It’s not easy for most American politicians to seem authentic, much less actually heartwarming (in fact, many of them veer closer to creepy when they attempt either), but Vice President Kamala Harris ’s newly announced running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, isn’t having much difficulty in that department. Since the news of his addition to the Democratic ticket broke on Tuesday, social media has been flooded with images of Walz emitting what can only be described as peak Midwestern-dad vibes.
Walz really is a dad—he and his wife of 30 years, educator Gwen Walz, are parents to 23-year-old Hope and 17-year-old Gus—and his Midwestern bona fides are hardly in question. (He was born in West Point, Nebraska, and has been living in Minnesota since 1996.) And while it is generally a recipe for heartbreak to project too much perfection onto any one political candidate, the fact can’t be escaped that Walz represents a breath of fresh air in a political system rife with the rather more unsavory likes of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Is it possible that the Democrats have done the impossible and somehow unearthed that rarest of things—a genuinely nice guy—from the heart of the country? (As a millennial who came of age during the Bush administration, I’ve learned to keep my expectations low, but I can’t help it—I’m charmed!)
While a national platform tends to bring out the worst in some politicians, everyone from former students to coworkers to fellow politicians has been coming out of the woodwork to testify to Walz’s IRL kindness and simply off-the-charts “dad who picks you and your friends up when you get drunk at homecoming and brings you a Gatorade in the morning to soothe your hangover before grounding the living hell out of you” energy. Below, find the very best social media responses to Walz’s addition to the Democratic ticket.
