The most Midwestern things Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has ever done
August 7, 20240
Mankato West’s football team.
MARLIN LEVISON/Star Tribune via Getty Images
Walz helped lead Mankato West to their first state championship victory in 1999 as the team’s defensive coordinator.
“When I took the job, they said, ‘Well, we’re kind of struggling. We were 0-27,'” Walz said in an interview on “Pod Save America.” “But I had some other coaches I worked with who were great guys and we said, ‘This is nonsense. Let’s just turn this thing around.’ Three years later, state champion. Now, they’re the state powerhouse.”
While he held the role of football coach, Walz also served as the faculty advisor for the school’s Gay Straight Alliance.
He once talked his way into getting a free turkey from a grocery store.
The annual Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hotdish Competition.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Walz, who served in the House of Representatives for 12 years, took the top prize in the Minnesota Congressional Delegation’s annual hotdish competition with his dish, “Tim’s Turkey Taco Tot Hotdish.” The recipe features ground turkey, green beans, cheddar cheese, baby bella mushrooms, and tater tots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
He also won congressional sharpshooting contests.
Tim Walz knows cars.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
In a recently unearthed video from Walz’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign shared by the progressive news site Daily Kos, Walz filmed himself sharing a car maintenance tip for fixing a burned-out headlight on a 2014 Ford Edge.
Instead of replacing the entire light, Walz said, the repair could be made with a $7.99 headlight harness from an auto shop.
“Just clip off the back, use some shrink-wrap connectors on there, tape it back together, and put it back in,” he said. “It’s about a five-minute fix and you’re back on the road safe and sound.”
Walz ended the instructional video by urging constituents to vote ahead of election day.
He’s an avid fan of the Minnesota State Fair and has participated in various activities on the fairgrounds.
Tim Walz carved butter at the 2019 Minnesota State Fair.
Office of Gov. Tim Walz & Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan
In 2019, Walz put his skills to the test in the Minnesota State Fair‘s annual butter-carving contest. He sculpted a school bus in honor of the impending start of the academic year.
He also volunteered at the all-you-can-drink milk booth in 2022, MPR News reported.
In 2023, he posted a video of himself and his daughter, Hope, flying through the air on a fair ride known as the Slingshot.
My daughter, Hope, tricked me into doing the most extreme ride at the Minnesota State Fair. pic.twitter.com/YeMEocwJRv
As governor, Walz hosted Minnesota’s first “governor’s turkey hunting opener” to kick off the wild turkey hunting season in 2019.
Menards.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
Menards, a home-improvement chain owned by Wisconsin’s richest billionaire, is a premiere Midwestern shopping destination known for its catchy theme song.
On a 2019 episode of “The Wrap” on Twin Cities PBS, Walz was asked, “What is the last thing that you did truly out in the public, truly by yourself?”
He answered: “I went to Menards and bought an air filter for my furnace.”
He made a video talking about the pitfalls of potholes in Minnesota roads.
Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz.
Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via Getty Images
In 2022, Walz posted a photo to X showing two of Runza’s famous sandwiches, captioned, “Tell me you know a little about Nebraska without telling me you know a little about Nebraska.”
Tell me you know a little about Nebraska without telling me you know a little about Nebraska. pic.twitter.com/jMC4AhgZsv
Runza also has stores in Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, and South Dakota, but most are located in Nebraska, where Walz was born and raised.
Walz moved to Minnesota after marrying his wife, Gwen Walz, who grew up there. The two met while they were both working as teachers at a public school in Alliance, Nebraska.
Walz was the first to call Donald Trump and JD Vance “weird,” a pithy insult that caught on in the Democratic party.
Tim Walz coined the “weird” insult to describe his Republican opponents.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
In an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in July, Walz coined a new way of speaking about Trump and Vance by calling them “weird.” The down-to-earth insult caught on as the Harris campaign and other Democratic leaders repeated the talking point in other media appearances and campaign events.
Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the Democratic party’s messaging of Trump as an existential threat to democracy is valid and real, but that it also “gives him way too much power.”
“Listen to the guy,” Walz said. “He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind, and I thought we just give him way too much credit.”
