Did you hear that? It’s as if a whole nation cheered without delay and that cheer was echoed by crowds in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin and felt in our houses and our hearts throughout America introducing us to Vice President Kamala Harris’ working mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Am I overdoing it a bit? Probably. But it felt like that. After the nonstop divisiveness and thinly veiled threats generated by the Trump/Vance MAGA ticket, Walz got here waltzing in like a stomach snort and a breath of contemporary air, like a voice of frequent sense amidst the chaos.

But it’s not Walz’s Midwest method and no-nonsense marketing campaign fashion. It’s not simply that he speaks plainly, straight and with a coronary heart that couldn’t be extra real if it was beating in his chest. It’s that he truly is aware of what he’s speaking about. Is he good? No, and we should always not count on perfection. Instead, we should always look at what progress seems to be like. 

A two-term governor who served in Congress for 12 years, Tim Walz is aware of tips on how to lead and move a legislative agenda that issues. He served 24 years within the Army National Guard, enlisting when he was simply 17 years previous and rising to the rank of Command Sergeant Major, a profession and rank revered by privates and generals alike as a result of, whereas officers give the orders, Command Sergeant Majors get the job accomplished.

He’s a champion for schooling as a result of he spent 16 years as a geography trainer and soccer coach and is aware of firsthand the challenges our lecturers and college students face every day. He is aware of what’s at stake within the MAGA conflict towards science and reproductive freedom as a result of he and his spouse had each of their kids due to IVF and Republicans like Vance wish to ban it. He made common background checks and purple flag legal guidelines a actuality in Minnesota not due to some public opinion ballot, however as a result of he’s a gun proprietor and that’s what accountable gun house owners do. He fights for justice reform and holding violent cops accountable as a result of it was his Attorney General’s Office that despatched Derek Chauvin to jail for killing George Floyd and he stood up and spoke at Duante Wright’s funeral calling for justice with males like Ben Crump and Rev. Al Sharpton. 

Who introduced free faculty lunches to each scholar in Minnesota? Walz did. Who fought to move the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in Congress and restored these rights to some 50,000 Minnesotans who’d served their time and paid their debt? Walz did. Who created the Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls as a result of too usually white victims make headlines whereas Black ladies and ladies get buried? Walz did.

And who will battle facet by facet with Vice President Kamala Harris to restrict Trump’s Project 2025 to the dustbin of historical past whereas we the folks transfer into the longer term? Gov Tim Walz will. So that cheering you hear isn’t simply Democrats. It isn’t simply white voters, the Midwest, faculty lecturers or veterans. It’s all of us – all of us collectively – and we aren’t going again. Now, if ya don’t know, now ya know…Tim Walz 

Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way. Follow him on X, previously referred to as Twitter @antjuansea.

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