Minnesota delegates roll into Chicago excited by state and Walz’s starring role

CHICAGO – The 93 Minnesota delegates in town for the Democratic National Convention arrive with a level of excitement they weren’t expecting when they committed to attend months ago.

Delegates expected the convention, starting Monday, would be a routine and dutiful, albeit borderline grudging, nomination of President Joe Biden for a second term. Instead, they’re part of history as Democrats will formally nominate the first woman of color to lead their ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris, and second-term Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

The Minnesotans from across the state will now be sought-after sources of intel and enthusiasm about the governor, who is not yet well-known beyond our borders. “The Minnesota delegation will take on more of a campaign role,” said delegate Ted Johnson, a veteran of many DFL campaigns who is attending his first convention as a delegate.

The delegates will share the Walz success stories “that will arm all the delegates that go back to their states” and tell their communities, Johnson said. “That’s kind of an important role for the home state.”

The enthusiasm for the newly reconfigured ticket is unlike anything Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said he’s seen since Barack Obama ran in 2008. There are “record crowds showing up at events, record amounts of contributions being raised” and “people are just coming out of the woodwork to volunteer for the campaign.”

The lack of enthusiasm for a second Biden term is gone, he said. The president will be the focus Monday with a daylong celebration of his career. On Tuesday, attention turns to the roll call for the current ticket with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaking up for Walz. The governor will take center stage Wednesday night with a prime-time speech, and Harris will bring it home on Thursday, the final evening,

Here’s what some of the delegates said ahead of the convention:

The 65-year-old retired nurse anesthetist from Duluth Township stepped up her activism when Donald Trump was elected in 2016. “Walz is a leader,” Crow said, citing free school meals, protections for transgender Minnesotans and codifying abortion rights. “He’s the man of the hour. He’s a decent plain-spoken guy. He’s what America needs right now.” She cited environmental and LGBTQ issues as prominent concerns for her. “I’m looking forward to hearing from our national leaders. It’s an opportunity you don’t get very often,” the first-time delegate said. “I just think that we are coming together in unity and our candidates are going to do amazing things once they’re elected to office. I’m just looking forward to seeing what things look like in 2025.”

A master’s student at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Herder, 67, is a retired neuromuscular therapist who moved to Minneapolis a decade ago from San Francisco. She started volunteering with the DFL in January. She puts affordable housing and taking care of working people as core issues. “It’s such a relief to be around people who think about politics and want the same things I do,” she said of the DFL. She admires Walz and said she hopes he and Harris win. “We will take care of people. We will work as hard as we can for peace in the world and respect everybody,” she said.

The business strategist and consultant, 55, said the Minnesota delegates will be cheerleaders for Walz. “As I’ve listened to generations before me talk about their experience with Humphrey and Mondale, this is our opportunity to kind of tell the same thing,” said Johnson, a Shoreview resident. This is his first convention as a delegate after working behind the scenes in the past. Johnson got his start working in the office of the late U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar and then former Attorney General “Skip” Humphrey. He recalls hearing stories from other conventions where Minnesotans were on the ballot and played a starring role: Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey in 1964 and 1968 and Vice President Walter Mondale in 1976, 1980 and 1984.

Lopez said his fellow Gen Zers are pumped to support the Harris-Walz ticket. Being a convention delegate has been his childhood dream, he said. Lopez, a 20-year-old student at Minnesota West Community and Technical College who also works at the Kivu Immigration Law firm, said economic issues resonate with his peers in the First Congressional District in southern Minnesota, which Walz represented. The governor’s support of free meals for schoolchildren, reduced college tuition for working-class families, and carbon-neutral climate policies resonate with Lopez. And his “Midwestern Dad vibe, who doesn’t love that?” Lopez said he approached Walz a few years ago at Worthington’s King Turkey Day for a selfie. “He’s a very approachable person,” Lopez said.

As a first-time delegate, the 65-year-old retired co-op manager from Avon wanted to get off the sidelines and was prepared to do her duty and work hard for Biden. The shift to Harris changed it. “The dam has burst and excitement and enthusiasm is in the air. Politics is fun again,” Lopez said. She lives in deep red Trump territory west of St. Cloud. Lopez called Walz a brilliant choice as a running mate. “There’s no one more Middle America than Tim Walz,” she said.

The 19-year-old convention rookie from Shakopee isn’t expecting to sleep much in Chicago. ”From what I’ve heard, it’s a lot of excitement and fast-paced,” she said. The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities student is majoring in political science and interned in Walz’s office. She’s concerned about the Republican embrace of the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda that calls for an overhaul of government and restrictions on women’s health care. “I’m very passionate about it, that’s something that’s in danger now,” Nair said. “I support people who want to protect that.”

Staff writer Ryan Faircloth contributed to this report.