Walz tries to burnish his everyman image with trip home to Minnesota

As a high school marching band played a rendition of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walked down the 50-yard line at the crosstown rivalry football game on Friday between Mankato East High School and Mankato West High School. Walz, accompanying the latter team’s captains, received an introduction that would work equally well at a campaign rally.

As a high school marching band played a rendition of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walked down the 50-yard line at Friday’s crosstown rivalry football game between Mankato East High School and Mankato West High School. Walz, accompanying the latter team’s captains, received an introduction that would work equally well at a campaign rally. “Joining them for the coin toss,” said the announcer at Minnesota State University-Mankato’s Blakeslee Stadium, “former Mankato West defensive coordinator, decadelong geography teacher, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.” The crowd reacted with mild applause, mostly from Mankato West supporters. After the coin toss, Walz took a seat on the bleachers, where he took selfies and signed autographs alongside his mother, Darlene Walz. The governor cheered throughout the game as Mankato West took an early lead, and although he departed at halftime, Mankato West held on to win 28-7. Walz’s visit to the football game, and his stop earlier in the day at the school where he once taught and coached, marked his first return to the town he called home for 10 years since joining the Democratic presidential ticket in August. Walz moved to Mankato in 1996 to teach social studies and coach football at Mankato West, along with his wife, Gwen, who taught English. Walz left teaching in 2006 after he was elected to Congress. Since Walz was named the Democratic vice presidential nominee, the Harris campaign has sought to highlight his tenure at Mankato West as the defining aspect of his background, more so even than his over 20 years in the National Guard or his six terms in Congress. Vice President Kamala Harris often refers to Walz as “Coach Walz,” a moniker now seen on campaign signs at Walz’s rallies. Adding to his Midwestern fall weekend itinerary, Walz on Saturday marked the opening of pheasant hunting season by going on a hunt, which he called the “best two hours” he’d spent “in two weeks,” according to a pool report. Reporters followed his hunting party, which included several other hunters and a few hunting dogs, from a safe distance as he trekked through Minnesota grasslands for several miles. Walz ultimately did not have a chance to fire his Beretta A400 shotgun, but he spoke after the hunt about why he purchased it.