Tim Walz’s Unexpected Rise Has Minnesota DNC Attendees Overjoyed

The unexpected rise of a native son, Tim Walz, has thrilled his local compatriots in Chicago. “The Minnesota delegation is, like, buzzing,” said Senator Tina Smith.

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The delegation from Minnesota at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday.

The Georgia delegates danced with the rapper Lil Jon at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. The Wisconsin delegates cheered in their Cheesehead hats.

But across a party gathering where the word “joy” has become an unofficial mantra, perhaps no one exudes it more than the Minnesotans.

After nearly four decades without representation on a presidential ticket, the sudden, stunning elevation of Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, has prompted a surge of excitement among the state’s Democrats. Minnesota attendees are celebrating Mr. Walz as a beloved state export on par with Prince or Bob Dylan.

“The Minnesota delegation is, like, buzzing,” Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat from the state, enthused in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s like they can’t even complete a sentence because they’re so excited about what this means for their friends Tim and Gwen, and also what it means for the country.”

Mr. Walz, whom Vice President Kamala Harris chose as her running mate, is set to address the convention on Wednesday. It will be his most prominent appearance yet as he continues to introduce himself to a nation that was overwhelmingly unfamiliar with him until this month.

But Minnesota Democrats have long known Mr. Walz as a folksy former football coach who speaks a neighborly language of moderate Midwestern pragmatism even as he pushes a sweeping agenda of liberal priorities.

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