What's up with 'weird'? Tim Walz and his Midwestern plain talk (2024)

When Vice President Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday, Democrats were quick to praise the Minnesota governor not just for his policy achievements, but for a more personal trait: his straight-talking, sometimes goofy affability.

“Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect,” former President Obama said in a statement.

Walz’s ease with cutting through political jargon to deliver a straight message appealed to Harris, according to a person close to her decision-making process.

Walz and “weird”

Walz catapulted to the forefront of Harris’s vice presidential selection list with a single word: “weird.”

“These are weird people on the other side,” Walz said in an interview on MSNBC. “They want to take books away, they want to be in your exam room. That’s what it comes down to, and don’t get sugarcoating this: these are weird ideas.”

The word stuck. Soon, clips of Walz’s “weird” debut flooded social media and raised his national profile.

Walz repeated the word at other appearances in recent weeks.

“These guys are just weird,” he said at a recent campaign event. “Are they a threat to democracy? Yes. Are they going to take our rights away? Yes. Are they going to put people’s lives in danger? Yes. Are they going to endanger the planet by not dealing with climate change? Yes, they’re going to do all that.”

But the left does not own the word.

“Now, Kamala Harris says we’re ‘weird,’” Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former President Trump’s running mate, said at a campaign rally in Atlanta. “Well, Kamala, I’m glad you brought that up. Let’s talk about some things that are weird. We think it’s weird that Democrats want to put sexually explicit books in toddlers’ libraries. We think it’s weird that the far left wants to allow biological males to beat the crap out of women in boxing.”

On Trump and Vance

Another man of Midwestern ilk, Walz attacked his vice presidential opponent for Vance’s characterization of Middle America in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

“He gets it all wrong,” Walz said. “The golden rule there is mind your own damn business. Their policies are what destroyed rural America.”

“Telling it like it is” was a trait many Republicans attributed to Trump’s rise when he ran for office in 2016. Many voters said they preferred a blustery candidate who didn’t talk like a traditional politician. Perhaps that’s why, during Trump’s first run for office, Republicans brushed off a leaked recording of Trump saying he grabbed women by the genitals. His campaign dismissed the comments as “locker room talk.”

On abortion

Walz has been an outspoken supporter of abortion access, one of Democrats’ top winning issues this election. And unlike President Biden, who previously said Roe vs. Wade went too far and as a Catholic, often appears uncomfortable talking about the subject, Walz embraces abortion as a regular talking point.

In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Walz praised Harris for visiting a reproductive healthcare clinic and frequently using health terms like “uterus.”

“I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more,” Walz said. “And I think the biggest thing is: Listen to women. Listen to what they’re saying. We’ve seen that when we listen to them, they’re speaking loudly on the issue and they’re speaking at the ballot box.”

On gun control

As a gun owner himself, Walz was a rarity in his party — a Democrat endorsed by the National Rifle Assn. But after a man went on a shooting rampage at a school in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 children, Walz disavowed his endorsem*nt and strongly supported more legislation to restrict access to guns.

“When I first started in Congress, I had an A rating from the NRA,” Walz said in a speech to Minnesota lawmakers last year. “I have straight Fs now — I sleep just fine at night.”

As governor, Walz has signed into law stronger background checks for people buying guns, and increased penalties for people who buy guns to give to others.

“I’m a veteran and I’m a hunter, and for many years I was one of the best shots in Congress — and I got the dang trophies to prove it,” Walz said. “I know guns as well as anyone, but I’m sick and tired of talking about that. Because I’m not just a veteran, not just a hunter, not just a gun owner. I’m a father, and for many years, I was a teacher. And we all know damn well, weapons of war have no place in our schools, in our churches, in our banks.”