What's it like to debate Tim Walz?
MINNEAPOLIS — Despite his unassuming, happy-go-lucky nature, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz can be a tough-guy debater. Even if he sometimes has worn a baseball cap.
Often described as disarming, the former educator and football coach turned politician has come to his past campaign debates armed with statistics and personal anecdotes, pressing for answers from his opponents using quick and animated affronts to land a blow while making defined arguments. In between blasts, he can often be seen sipping from a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew.
Those previous debates - critical moments amid his six successful campaigns to serve in the U.S. House and as a two-term governor - have largely been confined to small auditoriums and forums across Minnesota. Some were conducted at a traditional podium, others on a couch sitting across from his opponent, in a state fair booth on a stool and at panel at an agricultural festival. His attire normally matched the setting, whether it be a suit and tie, a rolled up "dad plaid" shirt or a graphic tee.
They're all also incredibly revealing for what's coming on Tuesday night.
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Walz, 60, won't be in the comfort of his home state. He'll be in New York City, where he will face 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee Ohio Sen. JD Vance in a far more formal and much higher stakes setting. He will be put to the test and see whether he can pull off the same kind of performance when he's not at the very top of the ticket, but instead must defend someone else's policies while also answering for his own previous stumbles.
During his first debate for a seat in Congress in 2006, Walz went on offense to question then-U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn., on homeland security amidst the war in Iraq. "My opponent was silent on this until it became an election year issue," Walz said. "The war in Iraq and our soldiers are not election year tools."
The feisty version of Walz was also on display when he got an opportunity to ask Gutknecht a question about global warming, nearly cutting the moderator off by interjecting: "I'm not sure I would get an answer on that one."
Fast forward to 2022, when Walz was running for a second term as governor against family physician Scott Jensen. During one of their debates, Walz accused his opponent of overprescribing patients and being influenced by drug companies. "When Scott was issuing opioid prescriptions, he issued more than 94% of his peers," Walz said, claiming Jensen was "wining and dining on expensive meals."
With a similar set of rules expected in New York as the presidential debate last month between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris — no audience, muted mics, no questions ahead of time — Walz and Vance are expected to defend their ticket leaders' policies while attempting to appeal to undecided voters.
According to a USA TODAY review of more than 10 hours of historic debate footage, Walz’s optimism and fire is alive and well in his almost two decades of being in politics. His signature modesty and working-class air combined with his passionate appeals when going face-to-face with his contenders serves as a precursor of how he might perform against a sitting U.S. senator competing for the job of being the country's next vice president.
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Vance is regarded as a more polished politician than Trump, and he's also not been shy about sharing misinformation and using personal attacks on the 2024 campaign trail. Trump brought up false claims during his debate against Harris that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating pets. Vance helped to initially spread those claims and then continued to amplify them despite his home state officials denouncing the falsehoods that have led to safety concerns for the city's residents.
In the final stretch of the election season, Walz has been focusing on cross-country campaigning while the governor and a core staff have been informally prepping for the debate in between stops. Formal work started this past week, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg playing Vance during mock sessions, according to a source familiar with their efforts.
Since being chosen as the vice president's running mate, Walz has appeared actively excited to engage with Vance. During his first joint rally with Harris, Walz taunted Vance by spreading a false internet rumor in regard to a possible meeting between the two.
“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said to the Pennsylvania crowd of 14,000 in August. “That is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
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No stranger to hostile attacks
Walz's most recent debate opponent's style was not unlike Trump's.
Despite attempting to seemingly distance himself from the then-president, Jensen, a former Minnesota state senator, used debate tactics throughout his 2022 bid to unseat Walz as governor that were packed with misinformation and personal pillory.
Jensen came out swinging in the numerous debates he had with Walz, calling the sitting governor "lazy" and criticizing the very topics Walz is expected to have to defend again on Tuesday: the COVID-19 pandemic, fraud, and his state's response to the police killing of George Floyd.
During an August 2022 debate at an agricultural tradeshow, Walz became noticeably exasperated towards Jensen, raising his voice after a series of comments from the physician related to COVID and electric vehicle policies.
"Instead of spreading false information, be part of the solution," Walz exclaimed while sporting a 'Minnesota Grown' baseball cap and graphic tee with a radish on it. "When you're the executive of this state, you stand up and say, 'I take responsibility for this, I will put things forward'."
Throughout his campaign, Jensen criticized Walz for his role in requiring masking in public, social distancing, and stay-at-home orders following the pandemic’s outbreak. But his attacks were not limited to public health. During an October 2022 debate, Jensen blamed Walz and his administration for the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the country that resulted in the stealing of $250 million in funds meant to feed children.
“The fact is he broke the law by not advising the Office of the Legislative Auditor that there was likely fraud going on,” Jensen said, accusing the state government under Walz's leadership of partaking in a "cover up" for not stopping the non-profit, Feeding Our Future, from taking advantage of government funding and defrauding the public.
In September, Walz and other state officials were subpoenaed by a congressional committee as a part of a House GOP-led investigation into Walz's past. The letter written by House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., put the blame on Walz for allowing the fraud to happen inside his administration and requested documents related to his government's handling of the situation.
Walz is also expected on Tuesday to have to answer for Minnesota's response to the violence that cost Minneapolis billions of dollars in damage in May of 2020 and sparked nation-wide conversations of police reform. During their 2022 debate, Jensen challenged Walz for not stopping the rioters and chaos that came after the police murder of Floyd.
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“This is a product of lawlessness that has swept over our state, and it started with Tim Walz delaying in May and June of 2020,” Jensen said during the debate. “He unleashed, if you will, a poisonous spread of lawlessness, arguably he is the Godfather of the crime epidemic that has swept our country.”
Walz did not immediately respond to the comment from Jensen but later answered a question relating to his response that included deploying the Minnesota National Guard to disperse the protestors.
“When you’re in the room, you have to make the decisions," Walz countered. "Sitting on the sidelines and critiquing, that’s not what being governor is, it’s making the hard decisions at the time."
The governor then added: “I said I was proud of the first responders; (Jensen) may not be, I was. This was an incredibly difficult and unprecedented incident, there was no precedence for it before, I want to just be clear, I have stood with the National Guard for 24 years, I am proud of that work.”
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What to expect Tuesday
Ben Warner, the director of the University of Missouri's Political Communication Institute told USA TODAY that in order for Walz to beat Vance on the debate stage he should play to his greatest strengths: Be the personable, nice guy.
However, Warner said that doesn't mean Walz should be submissive. Overdoing it, Warner said, can aid a ticket's demise. He pointed to the 2016 vice presidential debate between Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as a lesson of what not to do.
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"(Kaine) was very aggressive, and voters were surprised by that, and it felt off brand for him because he had a reputation of being a really nice guy," Warner said. "(Walz is) better off shoeing to what's been working so well for him so far."
Walz has conducted himself as Harris' optimistic side kick in his two-month long campaign, despite making sporadic low blows, and has been leading Vance in the polls for likeability and capability overall.
Humble beginnings
Not much has changed in Walz’s campaigning since his first run for Congress in 2006. He was 42 at the time and was introduced as “high school teacher Tim Walz" during his first debate with Gutknecht.
Prior to the debate, the first congressional district leaned Republican for the six-term incumbent Gutknecht and had only voted for one Democrat in more than 100 years until Walz won in 2006. He ran an anti-Iraq War campaign and used many of the same tropes we see today including appeals to middle America, impassioned cries for making D.C. representative, and of course, football references.
During his closing statement of the debate, Walz addressed the audience at home, saying he took an unpaid leave of absence from his teaching job for 22 months for the campaign that would eventually pave his way into politics.
“I faced a campaign that’s based on fear and information, but I’ve stood up to it and I’ve talked to you about the truth,” Walz said. “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be changed with an election. My optimism in this country is so great.”
— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY focusing on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's candidacy. You can reach her at [email protected], on X @woodyreports, and on Threads @samjowoody.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A history of Tim Walz's strategy ahead of 2024 VP debate