Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz on Monday invoked legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi when encouraging Wisconsin Democrats to keep their foot on the gas in the closing days of the election.
“It’s a very simple analogy that everybody in Wisconsin, everybody in Michigan, everybody in Pennsylvania, knows: There is simply no substitute for work,” he told a crowd of hundreds of people inside a Green Bay convention center, lightly paraphrasing Lombardi. “We’re leaving it all on the field. It’s all gas and no brake for 22 days.”
Walz campaigned in Eau Claire and Green Bay on Monday, marking the Minnesota governor’s fifth Badger State visit since joining the Democratic campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. He visited Green Bay alongside Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
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Harris is scheduled to visit Green Bay, Milwaukee and La Crosse on Thursday.
During his speech in Green Bay, Walz highlighted the contrast between Harris and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump. He criticized Trump’s recent comments on Fox News, in which the former president suggested using the U.S. military to deal with his critics, or what he called “the enemy within.”
Walz called Trump’s rhetoric “un-American” and went on to call the former president “a fascist to his core.”
“As someone who wore this nation’s uniform proudly, as someone who now is the commander and chief of the Minnesota National Guard, the idea of sending U.S. military personnel against American citizens makes me sick to my stomach,” Walz said.
Earlier in the day, Walz was joined in Eau Claire by Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. They encouraged students on the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus to vote and emphasized the critical role of young voters in this election.
Monday’s stop in Green Bay was part of a three-day bus tour through Wisconsin by Evers and Whitmer to campaign for Harris. The Democratic governors kicked off their tour Monday morning in Wausau.
Evers helped introduce Walz to the crowd at a Green Bay convention center, and praised Harris’s selection of Walz, a fellow former teacher turned governor.
“Turns out that’s a winning combination in Wisconsin,” Evers said. “I know my friend Tim Walz is going to be an incredible Vice President. That’s because governors get (things) done,” using an expletive.
Walz referenced the Midwestern governors coming together, while also making a nod to the Harris campaign’s big tent.
“You had a Lions fan, a Packers fan and a Vikings fan up here,” he said. “The only thing more amazing is we got Bernie Sanders, Dick Cheney and Taylor Swift all (supporting) the same ticket.”
Supporters at the rally said they liked Walz’s Midwestern appeal. Jeremy Beck of De Pere described the Minnesota governor as someone who “could be my dad or my uncle.” The issues supporters said mattered most to them this election included reproductive rights, the future of democracy and union rights.
“As the mom of two daughters, number one is abortion rights,” said Shelley Bath of Door County. “Of course, the economy is (also) very important.”
Prior to the rally, Walz stopped at Lambeau Field, where he toured the sideline and the visiting team locker room. Walz, a Minnesota Vikings fan, thanked the Packers organization for the tour when briefly speaking to the media in the locker room.
“They can rest assured that nobody disrespects Lambeau Field. … This is ground zero for football,” he said.
Walz also joined Whitmer and Evers in making a stop at the Cedar & Sage Grill House restaurant at the Oneida Casino Hotel, where he briefly spoke to tribal leaders.
“I’m proud to be on this ticket with Kamala Harris,” Walz told the tribal leaders. “I’m proud to be on this with someone who understands what sovereignty means, what self-determination means and understands how important these relationships are for this entire country.”
Republican Party of Wisconsin chair Brian Schimming criticized Walz’s campaign stop in a statement, saying the Minnesota governor has a “propensity for lies and exaggerations.”
“Even more disappointing than Tim Walz’s thick ledger of exaggerations and blatant lies, however, is his long history of far-left extremism,” Schimming said. “From dragging his feet during the riots in Minneapolis to pushing tax hikes amid record inflation, Walz is emblematic of everything wrong in the Democratic Party.”
But Walz argued Republicans were the party of extremism this election, citing the Project 2025 plan by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 during the campaign, but CNN reports that at least 140 people who worked in the first Trump administration had a hand in the staffing and policy blueprint intended for use by the next Republican president.
“Football folks here know: You draw up a playbook, you’re going to run the plays,” Walz said. “That’s what project 2025 is. They’re going to run the plays.”
A Marquette University Law School poll released earlier this month showed Harris maintaining a 4-point lead over Trump among registered Wisconsin voters.
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