Gov. Tim Walz officially accepts Democratic VP nomination

CHICAGO — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night.
Walz concluded the Democratic National Convention’s third night by delivering an acceptance speech that touched on his background and his resume as a lawmaker.
Here are five highlights from an evening that saw speeches from Democratic leaders and surprise appearances from celebrities.
Walz took the stage to “Small Town,” the country song by John Mellencamp. He spoke about his upbringing in rural Nebraska.
“Growing up in a small town, you learn how to take care of each other,” Walz said. You may disagree with your neighbors, he said, “but they’re your neighbors. You look out for them, and they look out for you.”
He discussed his time in the National Guard and his career as a high school teacher and football coach. He said he tried to instill in his students and athletes “an understanding that we’re all in this together.”
While representing a Minnesota district in Congress, Walz said he “learned how to compromise, without compromising my values.”
Walz detailed his progressive record as governor of Minnesota, listing key achievements like cutting taxes for the middle class, offering paid medical leave and providing free school breakfast and lunch. “While other states were banning books from their schools,” he said, “we were banishing hunger from ours.”
Minnesota passed a broad abortion rights law under Walz. “Even if we wouldn’t make those same decisions for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: mind your own damn business,” he said.
To conclude, he used a football analogy to talk about the two-and-a-half months until Election Day: it’s the fourth quarter, and Democrats are down by a field goal.
“Kamala Harris is tough,” he said. “Kamala Harris is experienced. And Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, for everyone watching, is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling.”
The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old American held hostage in Gaza, gave a heartfelt tribute to their son and pleaded for the return of the hostages and end to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin were visibly emotional upon taking the stage to loud applause. “This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said Jon Polin.
During the speech and as the parents exited the stage, delegates chanted, “bring them home.”
“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict of the Middle East. In a competition of pain there are no winners,” Polin said.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the top Democrats who encouraged Biden to exit the race, began her remarks by thanking Biden for his service.
Pelosi called the Biden administration “one of the most successful presidencies in modern times.”
“Thank you, Joe,” Pelosi said.
She spoke about the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when a pro-Trump mob attempted to stop Congress from finalizing Biden’s electoral victory. She spoke about reconvening Congress hours after the attack and certifying the election results.
“We demonstrated to America, and to the world, that American democracy prevailed,” she said.
“Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on January 6. He (Trump) did!” she continued. “But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. We did!”
Democracy, she said, is “only as the strong as the commitment of those entrusted with its care.”
In a rambling speech that frequently deviated from the teleprompter’s script, former President Bill Clinton chided Trump and encouraged Americans to back Harris, who he said will “solve problems, seize opportunities, ease our fears, and make sure every American can chase their dreams.”
His wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, spoke during the convention’s opening night Monday.
Clinton spent much of his speech knocking Trump: he said he doesn’t want to spend the next four years arguing about “crowd size,” and poked fun at Trump’s propensity for quoting the fictional character Hannibal Lecter.
“The next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s,” Clinton said, a knock at Trump’s arrogance.
The question Americans need to ask themselves, Clinton said, is whether they want a president who will “take us backward or forward?”
According to the New York Times, Clinton “scrapped his draft speech” after watching Monday’s opening convention session, concluding that “he needed more poetry, not prose.”
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and singer John Legend made surprise appearances on Wednesday night.
Winfrey, who described herself as an independent voter, called on the audience to “work together” to build a better America.
“There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of us against them — people who want to scare you, to rule you,” she said.
In her travels across America, Winfrey said she has met people who want to help each other. “More often than not, what I’ve witnessed and experienced are human beings — both conservative and liberal — who may not agree with each other, but would still help you in a heartbeat, if you were in trouble. These are the people who make me proud to say I’m an American,” she said.