EAGAN, Minnesota — A pair hundred supporters, many decked out in camouflage hats and “dad plaid,” gathered to welcome residence Tim Walz on Friday after the Minnesota governor and Kamala Harris misplaced the 2024 race for the White Home.
“An enormous thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris for the religion that she positioned in me, however extra importantly, for the highly effective and joyful marketing campaign that she ran,” Walz stated to an auditorium of teary-eyed supporters at Eagan Excessive College in Eagan, Minnesota.
Extra:Homeward certain: Tim Walz returns to Minnesota after election loss
Walz and Harris misplaced in Tuesday’s election decisively to President-elect Donald Trump and his operating mate, Vice President-elect JD Vance. The Democratic presidential ticket gained Walz’s residence state by simply over 4 factors however they had been unable to safe any of the seven battleground states, together with the “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that the marketing campaign had been banking on.
“It is onerous to lose,” Walz stated. “It is onerous to grasp, whereas so lots of our fellow residents, those who we’ve got fought so lengthy and onerous for wind up selecting the opposite path. It is onerous to reckon with what that path appears to be like like for the subsequent 4 years.”
Signal-up for Your Vote: Textual content with the USA TODAY elections staff.
Harris conceded to Trump on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., the place she addressed a mournful crowd of supporters at her alma mater of Howard College.
Walz, a former geography instructor and assistant highschool soccer coach, touted his historical past as an educator as part of his marketing campaign pitch to voters. Dubbed “Coach Walz,” Harris’ staff tried to focus on the VP nominee’s Midwestern roots on the path, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to seize the reasonable votes the marketing campaign was vying for.
“I simply need to say ‘thanks’ Minnesota, for giving me such an unimaginable story to inform to our fellow Individuals within the different states,” Walz stated on Friday.
The 60-year-old’s second time period as governor runs by means of 2027. Walz has not stated whether or not he’ll run for a 3rd time period however informed the gang that was waving American flags and chanting his title that he’ll “maintain making Minnesota an instance for the remainder of this nice nation.”
“I like this state. I like this job,” Walz stated. “And I’m not achieved combating for Minnesota. Not by a protracted shot.”
— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY specializing in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s candidacy. You may attain her atswoodward@gannett.com, on X @woodyreports, and on Threads @samjowoody.
( headline and story edited by our employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
