On an evening that had already seen appearances by Bill Clinton, Oprah and a lengthy speakers鈥� list of Democratic Party officeholders, Walz was preceded in Chicago by 15 former members of the Mankato West High School Scarlets, the football team to a Minnesota state title in 1999. Wider and grayer than in their playing days, the two lines of jersey-clad supporters walked onstage to the strains of the Mankato West fight song.

The miniature pep rally was another biographical touch in the Democrats鈥� efforts to introduce the electorate to Walz, an obscure figure outside of party circles just a few weeks ago. The campaign has leaned heavily on the governor鈥檚 years of experience as a teacher and coach, including numerous testimonials from former pupils and . If elected, he would become the first vice president in over 60 years to have previously worked as a K鈥�12 teacher.

In a 16-minute address, Walz credited his students with inspiring him to make his first run for Congress in 2006, a longshot bid that saw him unseat a six-term incumbent. 

鈥淭here I was, a 40-something high school teacher with little kids, zero political experience and no money, running in a deep-red district,鈥� he remembered. 鈥淏ut you know what? Never underestimate a public-school teacher.鈥�

Yet, like most of the convention thus far, the speech ran short on details related to education policy. Walz made little mention of his six-year governing record in Minnesota, where he signed sweeping school funding legislation in 2023 but also for the length of pandemic-related school closures. While delivering a passing shot at Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance for attending Yale Law School, he didn鈥檛 refer to the wave of laws passed in red states that allow public funding to flow to private school tuition. 

Instead, in keeping with attacks launched by speakers through the first three days of the convention, Walz jabbed at Republicans for seeking to review and remove controversial materials from school libraries. As governor, he signed laws both to provide universal school lunches to students and based on ideology 鈥� a combination he trumpeted with one of the night鈥檚 biggest applause lines.

鈥淲hile other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,鈥� he said to cheers.

Echoing the Democrats鈥� longstanding commitments to gun safety legislation, Walz further pledged to fight for children鈥檚 鈥渇reedom to go to school without being shot dead in the hall.鈥� Despite his respect for the Second Amendment as a hunter and Army National Guard veteran, he added, 鈥渙ur first responsibility is to keep our kids safe.鈥�

With audience members waving signs reading 鈥淐oach Walz,鈥� the nominee brought the remarks to a close by returning to the theme of teamwork and the beginnings of his leadership on the gridiron.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the fourth quarter. We鈥檙e down a field goal, but we鈥檙e on offense and we鈥檝e got the ball. We鈥檙e driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team.鈥�