On Tuesday, Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee for president, revealed her operating mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Walz, 60, has served as governor since 2019 and although the nation has solely simply began to get to know him, we have already discovered fairly a bit about his musical style. Spoiler: it is fairly good.

Below, we’re having a look at seven of Walz’s Classic Rock Connections.

1. March 5 is Bruce Springsteen Day in Minnesota

Getting tickets to a Springsteen live performance lately is not simple, not even for a governor. In July of 2022, Walz put out a call on his social media: “Anyone manage to get an extra Bruce Springsteen ticket today? Asking for a friend.” The following 12 months, he was spotted on the Minnesota State Fair in a Springsteen shirt. And it turned out that he scored a ticket to the Boss in any case — Beto O’Rourke lately shared a photo of them at one in every of Springsteen’s exhibits. To actually seal the deal, in 2023 Walz declared March 5 as Bruce Springsteen Day in Minnesota, describing him as a “living legend.”

2. He Once Named an Entire Highway After Prince

Dig if you’ll the image of Walz signing a invoice at Paisley Park simply exterior Minneapolis which formally renamed a state freeway after native legend Prince. That occurred in May of 2023. “Today, I signed a bill renaming a state highway in honor of Prince – an artist who transformed the music scene in Minnesota and across the world,” he mentioned then. “Prince was a proud Minnesotan through and through, and it’s only fitting that we honor this icon in the community he called home.”

3. He Firmly Believes Warren Zevon Should Be within the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 

Who amongst us doesn’t harbor not less than one grudge towards the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for overlooking somebody we consider deserves inclusion? Walz, for one, “cannot believe” Warren Zevon just isn’t part of it, as he posted about in 2023. He additionally could have nodded to Zevon throughout his first official look as Harris’ operating mate, telling an exuberant crowd in Philadelphia that he would work exhausting each day to win the upcoming election. “We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he mentioned, which comes terrible near the 1976 Zevon tune “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”

4. Tim Walz’s Favorite Bob Dylan Song

You type of cannot have a dialog about Minnesota musicians with out mentioning Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan, who was born in Duluth and spent a lot of his childhood in Hibbing. Back in 2019, Walz even declared April to be Minnesota Music Month, citing native Minnesotans like Dylan, Prince, Lizzo, the Replacements and extra as massively influential figures. In 2021, in honor of Dylan’s eightieth birthday, Walz informed MinnPost his favourite observe: “As a dad, ‘Forever Young’ has always been my favorite Dylan song. A timeless message from a dad to his son.” And in 2023, Walz was readily available when the Broadway musical Girl From the North Country, which options Dylan’s music, got here to Minneapolis, particularly to the Orpheum Theatre, which was owned by Dylan himself from 1979 to 1988.

5. He’s a Husker Du Fan

According to Beto O’Rourke, he and Walz have shared many a dialog about numerous Minnesota musicians, together with Husker Du, the punk rock band that fashioned in Saint Paul in 1979. Singer and guitarist Bob Mould is reportedly thrilled to see Walz on the ticket, and much more thrilled that he is a fan of their music. “History is rhyming really fucking hard right now,” Mould lately informed Rolling Stone, noting his assist for Walz and Harris. “It’s like, just listen to the chorus.”

6. He’s Also Into the Replacements

Another of these Minnesota bands Walz and O’Rourke bonded over was the Replacements, who, like Husker Du, additionally fashioned in 1979, however as an alternative in Minneapolis. It most likely helped that the Replacements’ fourth album — and their first on a serious label — is named Tim, launched in 1985.

7. He Collects Classic Rock Vinyl 

You can inform so much about an individual — or extra particularly on this case, a politician — by what’s of their vinyl assortment. In one 2023 submit, Walz displayed his vinyl haul from the well-known Minneapolis report retailer Electric Fetus, which included the Moody Blues’ Long Distance Voyager, Steve Winwood’s Arc of a Diver, Genesis’ Duke and Warren Zevon’s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. Three years previous to that, he shared some photographs of himself instructing his daughter about “old school” stereo set ups — “Quality speaker wire matters people!!!” he wrote.

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