While protests continued across Chicago, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president and addressed the nation Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention.
Before Tim Walz took the stage, his former student Ben Ingman of Mankato, Minnesota, brought Walz’s former football team on stage – showing their continued support for the Vice Presidential nominee. The crowd hoisted signs that read “Coach Walz” during his speech.
Many speakers Wednesday night, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, took the stage to declare their support for the Harris-Walz ticket, while speaking out against Donald Trump and the Project 2025 agenda– the Heritage Foundation’s roadmap for the next conservative president.
Polis read outtakes from the “Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership” aloud to the crowd.
“Page 451 says the only legitimate family is a married mother and father, where only the father works,” said Polis, waving the ripped out page in his hands. “I’m going to take that one out. I’m going to put that in my pocket so I can share it with undecided voters, so they can better understand what’s at stake this election.”
Pelosi ascended the stage, declaring her support for Kamala Harris. She focused a portion of her speech on her experiences during the Jan. 6 insurrection, stating that former President Donald Trump “assaulted democracy,” though she did not reference him by name.
“Let us not forget who saved democracy that day – we did,” she said.
Attention turned to Gaza
Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of 23-year-old American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, shared their son’s story and their hopes for a cease-fire on the DNC main stage.
Together, they pleaded for the release of those who continue to be held captive in Gaza.
“This is a political convention. But needing our only son – and all of the cherished hostages – home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” Jon Polin said.
Polin thanked those who keep fighting for peace, “You’ve kept us breathing in a world without air,” he said.
Later on in the evening, while U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered his speech, a group of uncommitted delegates gathered outside the convention for a sit-in with other protesters, holding a sign that read “Arms Embargo Now”– paralleling the message of many protestors at the DNC who are calling for an end to United States aid to Israel.
“We’re not going anywhere before November,” Abbas Alawieh, an uncommitted delegate from Michigan told reporters. “You’re not going to get rid of us. We’re going to engage the system.”
As the crowd left the United Center at the end of the DNC’s night three, a small group of protesters read aloud some of the names of those killed in Gaza.
‘Coach Walz’ takes the stage
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Walz’s speech put an emphasis on his accomplishments in Minnesota, his experiences as a teacher, how his family was personally impacted by progressive policies and his family’s personal journey through fertility treatments.
From the front row, his wife and children cheered him on through tear-filled eyes.
Walz also criticized the Republican nominees, Donald Trump and JD Vance and their policies, throughout his speech.
“Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor,” Walz said.
Walz compared the policies he enacted as Governor of Minnesota with the policies Trump and Vance have been promoting in their campaign.
“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said, referencing his free meal program for students at Minnesota public schools.