Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has strong ties to rural Nebraska

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday morning.

Born in West Point Nebraska in 1964, Walz spent most of his youth in the Sandhills.

He attended grade school in Valentine and graduated from Butte High School in 1982 before joining the Nebraska Army National Guard.

Walz graduated from Chadron State College with a social science degree in 1989 and took a job at Alliance High School after teaching in South Dakota and China.

After spending time teaching on a South Dakota Native American Reservation and then overseas in China, Walz returned to the Nebraska panhandle, where he taught high school and coached football and basketball in Alliance.

That’s where Walz met his now wife, fellow teacher Gwen Whipple.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said Walz’s small-town background could help Harris gain more rural voters.

"I'm, of course, excited because he is a Nebraska hometown person, but I'm even more excited for Democrats, because we finally are going to be able to expand beyond the swing states and East Coast/West Coast to really get to middle America," she said.

Kleeb said Walz understands issues rural voters care about, including country of original labeling, right to repair, property rights and rural schools and hospital funding.

“He's going to be able to walk into a room of rural folks, farmers, ranchers, small business folks, and be able to connect with them, both on issues as well as on an emotional level, and that will make all the difference,” she said.

In 1993, Walz was named Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce.

While in Alliance, Walz was also arrested for drunk driving and cited for driving 41 mph over the speed limit.

Walz moved to Minnesota in 1996, where he continued teaching in Mankato. Walz was first elected to Congress in 2006 and he was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.