Tim Walz returns to Nebraska amid a dispute over an electoral vote

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tim Walz On his first trip to his home state since the Democrats nominated him for vice president, he pointed to his Nebraska roots on Saturday and noted sharp contrasts between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Walz spoke to the crowd about his love of Nebraska football and joked about the historical significance of the replica of Stonehenge, built from vintage cars and called Carhenge, near his school in the Panhandle. He then emphasized the values ​​he learned growing up, namely helping neighbors and minding other people’s business.

“More than anything else – just like here in Nebraska – Minnesota’s strength is based on our values,” he said of the state he serves as governor.

Walz stressed that he and Harris believe in helping all Americans succeed – not just the millionaires and billionaires he believes Trump wants to help. It was all part of his appeal for the only electoral vote in Omaha’s swing Second Congressional District, which can be split off from the rest of the heavily Republican state.

Walz accused Republicans of interfering in people’s daily lives. He said the fact that they want to decide Americans’ health care, including abortion rights, and are trying to damage Social Security is “not just weird, it’s dangerous. And when they try to overturn elections, that’s not just weird, it’s un-American.”

He said Trump and his Republican colleagues were “very concerned about our bedrooms, our exam rooms and our libraries.”

Nebraska Democrat Chair Jane Kleeb joked at the start of the event that Omaha has a new nickname: “Kamaha,” and encouraged everyone at the rally to work hard to get Harris and Walz elected in November.

Fans hope that Walz Knowledge about rural America – he grew up in the small Sandhill towns of Valentine and Butte – could help Democrats gain traction in much of the Republican strongholds where they have been barely competitive in recent elections.

His appearance in Omaha also underscores the campaign’s interest in securing the single vote This is tied to the victory in the swing 2nd district, secured by Joe Biden in 2020 and Barack Obama in 2008. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is expected to visit Omaha next week to attend a private fundraiser hosted by Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska.

“I think it just proves the importance we have as the blue dot – CD2,” said Omaha teacher Wes Jensen.

Former Senator Al Davis, who represented the Panhandle town of Alliance, where Walz taught for six years before moving to Minnesota after meeting his wife, said he believes Walz “can appeal to rural areas of the country in a way that other candidates never could.” He added, “So I’m hoping that I can win some votes in rural areas of Nebraska and the entire Midwest.”

Alliance residents are planning their own local rally next week to hear Walz speak. Democratic Convention Chicago.

Even before Walz took the stage in Omaha, the Republican National Committee accused the Kamala Harris-Walz campaign team of not representing “Midwestern values” and said Nebraska voters would “send a clear message” by helping to bring the former president back into office.

Bill McCamley of Lincoln said he remembers Walz, now governor of Minnesota, being interested in politics when he taught him social studies in seventh grade in Valentine, but he never expected he would one day become governor or perhaps vice president.

McCamley said Walz came up with the idea of ​​building a veterans memorial for all Cherry County military personnel while in seventh grade and then convinced local officials to build a walkway for the memorial.

“I went with him, but he did his job. He talked to them and said, this is the idea. This is what I want to do,” McCamley said. “Then he got them to agree to it. I thought that was pretty impressive.”

McCamley had to call the state Democratic Party to gain access to Saturday’s rally after the online registration system closed after 10,000 people expressed interest in attending the rally at a theater in the Omaha suburb of La Vista that is designed to hold only about 2,500 people. As unlikely as it may be, McCamley was hoping for a chance to reconnect with his former student, jokingly confronting him about a Valentine’s Day gift he gave his daughter, Julie Long, when the two were in seventh grade together.

Long said she kept the Valentine’s card Walz gave her for many years because the message, “Our relationship is weird and wonderful,” made her laugh. The inside of the card read, “You are weird and I am wonderful.”

“That describes his humor pretty well,” says Long, who always competed with Walz to see who was smarter because her father was a teacher and he was the school superintendent there.

They both moved away during high school, and Long lost touch with Walz — aside from a chance encounter when they both lived in the Panhandle — until she noticed him appearing in the news as governors faced difficult issues like the protests that followed. The murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police.

After dealing with these unrests and adopting important priorities such as Protection against abortion and free lunches for school children – Walz has a long list of accomplishments that will appeal to Democratic voters.

But Long said Walz could also be attractive to Republicans because he is smart, funny and cares about helping people.

“I think if people are willing to listen – really listen – to what he’s saying and things like that, it will open some doors,” said Long, who lives in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and cannot accompany her father to the rally.