Matt Craver remembers the first time he met Tim Walz, a high school teacher in Mankato, Minnesota.
Claver, now a London-based software engineer and longtime Democratic Party activist, was studying in the school library when he noticed his teacher was in a bit of a hurry. He told Deadline:
“I discovered that Mr. Waltz was my 11th grade geography teacher and the husband of my own journalism teacher. And then he burst out the door. What I found out was that he was an 11th grade geography teacher and the husband of my own journalism teacher. He was on duty with the National Guard in charge of the response to flooding in St. Paul, and he left to lead the response. I remember being shocked by that.”
It was the summer of 2004, and Claver, then a 19-year-old recent graduate, learned that the movement to re-elect George W. Bush was spreading across the city and that a rally was being planned at a local quarry venue. Along with two other politically conscious students, he stood in line for three hours to get tickets. ”
Except that Clubber and his friends were turned away by the organizers, who told them, “We don’t have tickets, you’re not supporters.” (This is a small town, he explains, where everyone knows everyone and who they’re voting for.) After a call to the local newspaper and a report on the local TV station, they Tickets were reinstated subject to their best efforts. However, they were becoming increasingly nervous about attending the event.
Claver says: “At that point, one of our group, who was already having some issues, dropped out, and we looked around to see who else could go with us. We found out that Mr. Waltz was going, and the adults I thought it would make sense to support them.”
It turns out the students’ fears are well-founded. When their group, including Waltz, arrived at the event, they were interrogated again about their reasons for participating. He remembers: “They asked for my ID, so I took out my wallet, and it had a John Kerry sticker on it, which they took as proof that I didn’t support the president. That was something they already knew.
“Mr. Waltz was asking, ‘What’s going on? They’re with me, they’re going to behave.’ So they turned to him and said, ‘Who are you? ” he said. Why are you with them? Who do you support? He pushed back, saying he was a local teacher and a sergeant major with the National Guard Command and had come to see the president. ”
In the end, Walz was allowed to attend the event, but the two students were turned away and said, “They said the Secret Service had identified us as a threat to the president; That’s nonsense,” Waltz continued to worry. “That whole episode excited him,” Claver recalls. “He wasn’t political at that point, but this experience changed that. He was just as activated in the library as he was that day.”
Walz himself reflected on that night on social media, describing it as “the moment I decided to run for office.” He writes of X:
Thread – The last sitting president to visit my hometown of Mankato, Minnesota was George W. Bush in 2004. As a high school teacher and football coach, my teaching experience included taking two of my fellow teachers’ children to give a speech. I was refused entry…
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 17, 2020
It was at this time that I decided to run for office. Although I had a passion for politics, I had never been very involved in political campaigns, and many people thought I had no chance as a high school teacher or football coach.
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 17, 2020
For the remainder of that year’s presidential campaign, Walz and his wife served in the county’s Democratic Party office. Within two years, Walz made his debut as a member of Congress and won election.
Mr. Claver, who volunteered with Walz, worked on Democratic Party campaign software in both 2008 and 2012. He stood to celebrate Barack Obama’s victory in Chicago’s Grant Park and served on the pre-inauguration committee on both occasions.
Mr. Claver moved to London in 2018, when Mr. Walz became Minnesota governor. As soon as he learned of Kamala Harris’ requirements, he felt that the former teacher would be his running mate.
“I read that she was looking for a governing partner who supported her agenda. No disrespect to the other candidates, but I knew he was the one to play off the tee.”
The Minnesota native was in Chicago for this year’s Democratic National Convention, where he was a guest of Walz and mingled with his high school alumni. he said with a laugh.
“We’ve always kept in touch, but that was the weirdest high school reunion ever. The next day they invited their friends and family to a hotel to chat.”
Among the reported 3 million Americans living overseas, Mr. Claver’s vote in the election will be mailed to his home county in an envelope. He plans to spend the final days before the Nov. 5 vote in Las Vegas, volunteering in battleground states — “2020 was the first presidential election since 2000. I did nothing. “I didn’t intend for this to be another election,” he says carefully about the outcome.
“No matter what happens, it’s an incredible testament to the vice president and the governor. Three months ago, this was something Trump should have lost. The fact that it’s a tied race is a credit to them. Whatever the outcome, the fact that it’s so close is impressive.”
And what will become of Waltz, a man known to the local community since Clubber first met him, but now sharing the stage with this important chapter in American history? Mr. Clavell is less cautious.
“The Tim Walz that Americans have come to know in recent months is exactly the man I have known for more than 20 years.
“One of his secondary roles in high school was assistant football coach. In his first few congressional races, we ran ads that said he was a football coach and the Harris campaign picked it up. It made sense because that’s who he is. He’s a really honest, happy warrior, passionate, and here to help others make things better. He’s not there to win games, he’s there to help the team win games.
