ST PAUL, Minn. — With his leap to the national spotlight, Gov. Tim Walz had displayed what appears to be a new persona — a revved up, edgier version of the politician most Minnesotans have gotten to know.
His declarations of “mind your own damned business” and “these guys are creepy, yes, weird as hell” carry a more aggressive tone than Walz has used even in his most spirited rhetoric at the State Capitol.
Professor Larry Jacobs of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs said it comes with the territory for running mates on a national ticket.
"Now he's the national cheerleader for Kamala Harris in a bitter, partisan battle, and it's no holds barred. This guy is going for the throat," Jacobs said.
"He's delivering the hard punches, so that Kamala Harris doesn't have to do that kind of dirty work. He's doing the job that the number two always does. This is not Tim Walz's personality necessarily. It is the job, the requirement that he step up and do the hard political work, the nasty political work, so that the top of the ticket, Kamala Harris, can kind of sail above it."
Jacobs noted that, by contrast, during his 12 years in Congress and six years as governor, Walz has spent much of his time trying to build coalitions around shared goals and seeking some semblance of common ground with his political adversaries.
"We knew that Tim Walz when he was running for Congress, who was amiable, who worked with Republicans, proposed and voted for Republican ideas. When he was governor, he talked about one Minnesota, bringing people together. He reached out to Jesse Ventura, to many Republicans."
Walz has also targeted former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, saying he’s closely tied to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — a controversial blueprint for Trump's second term. He also questions Vance’s credentials as a product of the Midwest.
"Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires!" Walz said at his speech in Philadelphia, where he introduced himself to the nation.
Some pundits believe Walz has been forced to sharpen his tone because Vance is a more imposing adversary than the Minnesota Republicans he's faced in his elections in this state.
"Walz is going after him. He's trying to make the case that J.D. Vance is not authentic, that he's a phony, that he says he's a hillbilly but he's not, that he's worked out west and made a lot of money in Silicon Valley, that he's not the real deal," Jacobs said.
At the same time Walz has taken on a more contentious tone attacking the Trump-Vance ticket, he has also drawn attention by trying to bringing a hopeful message to fellow Democrats. In that way he’s echoing Minnesota’s first Vice President, Hubert H. Humphrey.
"Hubert Humphrey used to describe himself as the Happy Warrior, who relished the fight over politics," Jacobs said.
"Tim Walz has taken a twist on that. He describes the politics of joy. He doesn't want people to feel bedraggled and kind of deadened by the ugly politics of today. He’s encouraging people to become enthusiastic, joyful about voting."