Tim Walz Son’s Reaction to Dad’s Speech Takes Off Online

As Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted the vice presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) among thousands of cheering supporters, his family looked on from the crowd, filled with emotion, including his 17-year-old son, Gus.
Posts on social media show Gus in tears as soon as his father took the stage in Chicago Wednesday night. In one clip posted to X, formerly Twitter, by MSNBC, Walz’s son was seen crying and clapping next to the governor’s wife, Gwen, who also appeared teary-eyed.
Early into Walz’s speech, he spoke about his and Gwen’s infertility struggles conceiving their 23-year-old daughter, Hope, who was also in the crowd Wednesday. The governor also gave a brief shoutout to his family, saying, “Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world, and I love you.”
Gus was again seen crying and cheering after being mentioned by his father, including pointing to the stage and appearing to say, “That’s my dad.”
The governor said during an interview with People magazine published this month that Gus has a “non-verbal learning disorder,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and an anxiety disorder.
Newsweek reached out to Walz’s campaign via email for comment late Wednesday night.
Walz has been open about his family’s experience with infertility, especially in the face of Senate Republicans voting down legislation in June that would have protected access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other fertility treatments nationwide, a move pushed by Democrats after the federal protection to abortion was overturned by the Supreme Court two years before.
The governor and his wife used intrauterine insemination, also known as I.U.I., to conceive Hope, a treatment that has key differences to IVF.
Walz’s speech followed the theme of the DNC’s third night: a “fight for our freedoms.” He bashed conservative policies that have banned certain books that deal with sexuality and diversity topics from appearing in public school libraries. He also repeated his familiar line of attack against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, calling the pair “weird.”
“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Walz told the crowd.
The governor and former congressman leaned heavily into his background as a public school teacher, introducing himself to the country as a working-class, Midwestern dad who own guns and served for 24 years in the U.S. National Guard.
At the end of his speech, Walz also played off his experience coaching high school football, telling the crowd, “It’s the fourth quarter, we’re down a field goal. But we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball.”
“We’re driving down the field,” he said. “And boy do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is tough.”
Vance reacted to Walz’s speech during an appearance on Fox News immediately after the governor wrapped up, telling the network, “What I heard was a guy that was trying to defend Kamala Harris.”
“It’s one thing to promise things in the future, but when you defend the sitting vice president of the United States, Day One of her administration isn’t six months from now,” he said. “Day One of her administration was 1,300 days ago, and she hasn’t done anything.”
Vance added that Walz cannot “get up there and offer all of these promises,” which he characterized as “rhetoric and generalized.”
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Update 08/22/24, 12:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.