How Tim Walz became beloved by young voters with a message that the GOP is ‘weird’

FILE – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz discusses the upcoming 2024 legislative session during an interview at his office in the state Capitol, Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before he was on the shortlist for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was working to portray Donald Trump and Republicans to the American public as “just weird.”

“These are weird people on the other side. They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room,” Walz said in a TV interview last month.

The message started with news interviews and eventually spread like wildfire across social media with the help of young Americans. The simple terminology of labeling the other side as “weird” or “odd” is not revolutionary or sophisticated in American politics but represents a new framing for Democrats who have spent the last eight years trying to defeat Trump and Trumpism by personifying him as the greatest threat to democracy.

“The opposite of normalizing authoritarianism is to make it weird, to call it out and to sort of mock it,” Jennifer Mercieca, a historian at Texas A&M University, who wrote a book on Trump’s rhetoric, said. “To say, ‘Hey, that’s a weird thing you’re doing, calling your opposition enemies instead of saying that they’re good people who have different policy preferences.'”

Now the party is turning the page with a new generation of candidates trying to appeal not just to Americans’ fears about what a second Trump presidency would mean, but to plainly label the policies and actions of the Republican party as abnormal. And Democrats see no more effective messenger to deliver this new attack than Walz, the 60-year-old Midwestern dad, who on Tuesday was chosen to become their vice presidential nominee.

“Gov. Walz can do the job, and helps reinforce that we’re team normal,” freshman Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re pragmatic, reliable and bipartisan.”

Walz’s ability to speak in layman’s terms about policy and politics coupled with his knowledge of the internet zeitgeist has helped propel the little-known politician to the national stage and on the “For You” social media pages of millions of Gen Z voters whose support will be crucial for Democrats come November.

Labeled “the cool dad” online, news that Walz would be the Democratic running mate ignited a stream of online memes, including one with the caption, “To the window to the Walz,” a reference to the hit 2003 rap song “Get Low” by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz. On TikTok, users created 60-second montages of Walz talking about the phenomenon of the new Charli XCX album Brat, which he says his young daughter helped explain to him, mixed with footage of him lambasting GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance for his comments on “childless cat ladies.”

“Go ahead and continue to denigrate people. Go ahead. My God, they went after cat people. Good luck with that,” Tim Walz says in a MSNBC clip that has more than 150,000 likes on TikTok. “Turn on the internet. See what cat people do when you go after them.”
But the same qualities that led Walz to the Democratic ticket are already being used against him by Republicans who have just in the last few hours labeled him as “weird” and “radical.”

Trump sent a fundraising email Tuesday calling Walz “Dangerously Liberal” and saying he would “unleash HELL ON EARTH.”
But Walz’s legislative record on issues like protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and restricting gun access have helped him gain popularity with young voters beyond his own solidly blue state to communities across the country.

Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led organization that represents young political activists and voters, threw its full support behind Walz after weeks of campaigning on his behalf, saying that he has “dedicated his life to educating and empowering young people as a teacher and public servant.”

“Governor Walz gets bonus points for articulating exactly how young Americans feel about Donald Trump and JD Vance: They are weird,” Santiago Mayer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “Trump and Vance are weirdly fixated on taking away freedoms from Americans and weirdly obsessed with culture wars.”