What a relief...to see emerge on the national stage the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, who embodies the earnest, humane, rural people who shaped me and the prairie populism that shaped the progressive foundations of the Great Plains.
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With due respect to political statistics, which convey real and important trends, the rural white working class is not a monolith. Among them remains a large and consequential minority of sensible people who even in their vulnerable economic state remain unmoved by charlatans blaming immigrants while amassing corporate wealth.
In recent decades, the Democratic Party has made little direct appeal to them, such that Mr. Walz’s rural background seems downright transgressive on the top ticket. As evidence, some (often coastal) pundits now struggle to find a word for a vice-presidential pick raised in small-town Nebraska beyond “folksy,” since their language about his place of origin has for so long reflected geographic and class biases. “Trump country.” “One of the square states in the middle.”
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[F]or all the loud racism, homophobia and jingoism of today’s Republican Party — which indeed has dominated elections outside metropolitan areas — the real rural America is diverse, full of immigrants, people of color, gay and transgender people and native peoples, and even straight white folks who happily work and live alongside them.
Then there's this, from Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times:
Walz has deep rural roots, which could prove a counterpoint to Vance, whose political ascent began with his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which chronicles his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio.
Harris cited Walz’s rural bona fides as one of the deciding factors in choosing him as her running mate.
“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle-class families run deep,” Harris said in a statement. “It’s personal.”
Often appearing in public in T-shirts and ball caps, Walz brings an amiable, Midwestern-dad sensibility to the ticket.
Walz, 60, was born in rural Nebraska and went to high school in the tiny town of Butte, where he graduated among a class of 25 students. He told the New York Times that the class included 12 cousins, so “finding someone to date was kind of a problem.”
After his father died of cancer when Walz was 19, his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet, according to the Harris campaign. He used his GI Bill benefits to help pay for college.
In 1989, Walz graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in social science education.
Dionne Searcy, a New York Times reporter who grew up in rural Nebraska, filed this fact-packed story a few days ago, "From Walz, a Rosier View of a Midwestern Upbringing. As the headline suggests, it features something of a contrast with J.D. Vance as a product of rural America:
The Midwestern back stories presented by the two major-party vice-presidential candidates are strikingly different. One is a grim tableau of addiction and poverty in the once-thriving industrial Midwest, as recollected by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Another is a glowing portrait of rural America offered by Mr. Walz...
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In many ways, the difference in how each candidate is employing his identity is part of the fun-house-mirror state of U.S. politics. Mr. Vance, a Yale Law School graduate, has labeled Mr. Walz, a graduate of tiny Chadron State College in Nebraska, an elite. Camouflage merchandise signaling support for hunting and guns — once chiefly the domain of Republican campaigns — is now peddled by the Harris team, too.
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His rural persona makes him likable to a broader audience, even one that may not vote for him, said former Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska. For instance, Boyd County, Neb., the home of Mr. Walz’s high school alma mater, voted 87 percent for Mr. Trump and is likely to vote similarly this year, Mr. Kerrey said. But in a politically divided nation, likability is important, he added.
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Mr. Walz adopts the country boy stereotype, waxing in speeches about his love for football and mountain oysters, or deep-fried bull’s testicles, a dish served in some parts of Nebraska and other rural areas.
Another terrific story is this by Guy Trebay from today's New York Times Style section about the sartorial signals Walz is sending:
A Nebraska native with a gun license and workwear in his closet, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota is, of course, now also the Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States. Whether in a blocky sports jacket and tie or a T-shirt and Red Wing boots, Mr. Walz brings to the Democratic ticket a kind of down-home lack of fuss that is seldom seen anymore in politics.
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To a large extent, his look distinguishes him from the triple-pleat trousers favored by Beltway dinosaurs or the stretchy Suitsupply uniforms preferred by many male young guns in the nation’s capital. Even among his competitors in the race for the vice-presidential nomination — Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona and a former astronaut — there were more regulation navy suits to be seen than chore coats. And that may be no coincidence.
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Relatable in appearance, the 60-year-old candidate has often dressed for news conferences in T-shirts or ball caps that would not be out of place on the checkout line at Hy-Vee.
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“You almost have to go back to Michael Dukakis to find someone like Walz,” Mr. Egan said. “He doesn’t own a house. He has no stocks. He gets a teacher’s pension. Compared to a lot of folks on the political scene, that’s pretty basic, if that’s what we mean by authentic.”
Don't miss the rest of this story, which features a lot of rich rural-ish detail, sartorial and otherwise.
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