Gov. Tim Walz will campaign in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, attending the University of Michigan vs. University of Minnesota football game. The vice presidential nominee and former Minnesota high school football coach will meet with students during the trip to speak about the importance of registering to vote and the power of them participating, according to a campaign official.
Walz, a former public school teacher “knows the critical role young voters will play in the election,” and his trip aims to build off the campaign’s “efforts to activate and organize on college campuses,” according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal plans.
The campaign has leaned into Walz’s identity as a former coach, including at the Democratic National Convention in August, where he was introduced by a former student he coached in baseball and track. Walz was later joined onstage by some of his former football players from Mankato West High School.
Michigan is a key state for both the Harris-Walz and Trump-Vance campaigns. A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of likely voters in the state taken earlier this month found a close race between Harris and former President Donald Trump, with Harris at 48 percent and Trump at 45 percent support ― within the margin of error. Walz campaigned in the state earlier this month.
On the campaign trail, Walz frequently invokes his experience coaching football. In one frequent line, he derides Project 2025, a lengthy plan for far-right policy proposals written by some of Trump’s supporters, but that the former president’s campaign has denounced. When he describes it, Walz tells voters that as a former coach he knows “if you take the time to make a playbook, you’re going to use it.”
Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner in D.C. earlier this month, Walz stressed the importance of him serving as the Gay Straight Alliance club adviser while also coaching football.
“When [the student who founded the club] asked if I’d be interested in being the advisor to the Gay Straight Alliance, I said, ‘absolutely,’ ‘ Walz said.
“I understood what it meant to be that older, straight, white guy who was coaching football,’ he continued, before speaking about the importance of allyship.
The Walz family planned to attend Saturday’s Michigan-Minnesota game prior to him becoming the vice presidential nominee, as part of several celebrations of Walz’s 60th birthday earlier this year, according to a person familiar with his plans. Walz has previously met with college students several times in Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia.