State of Democra-Z: Reflections on the Democratic ticket as convention begins

CATHY WURZER: Now, of course, the spotlight, as you've heard, is on the Democratic Party today as it begins its National Convention in Chicago. Many of Minnesota's Democratic leaders are there, along with delegates, political heavyweights and protesters from across the nation. Vice President Harris has already secured the presidential nomination with Minnesota Governor Walz as her VP. So there's no question as to who the party's ticket will be.

The event will also be a chance to build more momentum and share details on how Harrison and Walz may run the country if they win. For the latest in our series, "State of Democra-Z," we are checking in with two of Minnesota Now's young political panelists to find out what they think of the Democratic ticket right now. Cori Stockard is an incoming senior at the University of Minnesota and the president of the College Democrats.

Maddie Christensen is a recent graduate of Hamline University, where she was also a leader of the College Dems. I am so happy to have you both back, Cori and Maddie. How you been?

CORI STOCKARD: Hello.

CATHY WURZER: Hi.

CORI STOCKARD: I've been good.

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: Hi. I've been doing really well. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: Great. It's been a nonstop flow of news. I just--

CORI STOCKARD: Absolutely.

CATHY WURZER: I want to have it slow down, but that's not going to happen here. Say, you may have heard earlier in the show, we were talking to Isaac Winkler. He's the son of former Minnesota lawmaker Ron Winkler. He's the youngest delegate, at 17 years old.

And he was saying to us that the Harris-Walz ticket has a much greater appeal with the Gen Z electorate, he thinks. At least in your circles, how shored up do you think the support for Kamala Harris seems to be with Tim Walz on the ticket? I'm going to begin with Cori.

CORI STOCKARD: I think it's been an incredible reversal. I saw a poll where it was asking about, who do you think is most fit, physically, to be President or whatever? And before Biden dropped out, it was plus-30 for Trump. And then after Kamala stepped in, it was plus-30 for Kamala. And I think that really just having a significantly younger presidential candidate has absolutely invigorated Gen Z.

CATHY WURZER: Maddie, what do you think?

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: I 100% agree. I think that it's been really amazing and awesome to see the amount of support that the Walz ticket-- the Harris-Walz ticket, excuse me, has had over the past few weeks of growth. And of course, watching TikTok and seeing posts on Instagram and the rest of my social media, I think that there is a lot of that sense of hope that we have been missing over the past few months before Biden dropped out. And I think, as Cori said, it has really reinvigorated everything within our political landscape and how Gen Z really sees it.

CATHY WURZER: So you mentioned social media, Maddie. I see Tim Walz is on TikTok. He's got TimTok, evidently.

[LAUGHTER]

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: Have you seen it yet?

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: I have, yes. I've seen his first post, I believe it was the Scout, his little black lab. And I loved it so much. And of course, being the dad that he is, he had to sneak in a little dad joke in there, calling it TimTok. But I'm really hoping to see a lot of really, again, growth within older generations using TikTok for the first time. It's really fun to see.

CATHY WURZER: Cori, it's fun to see. But are you hearing what you need to hear when it comes to issues as a young voter?

CORI STOCKARD: I think so. What I was really excited about is Kamala Harris starting to talk about in her campaign about housing. Particularly, she's introduced a plan to incentivize the construction of millions of new homes across the United States. And as someone who eventually wants to own a home or something like that, I think that is very important to me, especially at my particular age or whatnot. So that's exciting.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. And I'm curious here, Maddie, what you think. 11 of Minnesota's delegates, along with, I think, what, 20 others from other states, have this movement to vote uncommitted because of the Biden-Harris administration's stance on the Israel-Hamas war. And there's, of course, as you all know, protesters gathering in Chicago. What do you want to hear from the Walz-Harris ticket on this particular issue?

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: I think what we have been hearing so far is getting to the ultimate goal of having a ceasefire. However, some of their actions that they have implemented have been going back and forth as to where they really stand on the issue. I was catching up on this and researching the uncommitted movement within the delegates, and I saw that they really want to use the Democratic Convention to really make their voices heard.

And it sounds that-- like a lot of political leaders who are attending that convention are willing to speak with them and speak about those issues. But overall, I am really just hoping that over the next few months here, as well as getting closer and closer to the end of the campaign trail, a cease deal-- or a ceasefire deal is made, so that way, we can move forward in potentially rebuilding what has been lost.

CATHY WURZER: And Cori, what do you want to hear?

CORI STOCKARD: I want there to be a fruitful dialogue here. I think the two angles that exist-- or there's one side, I guess, the establishment side, which views, in many ways, the protesters as being maximalist and not really, I guess, open to negotiations. And you have this same thinking going on from the protesters' side, where they don't think that the administration or the campaign is necessarily willing to come to the table and discuss with them. So I think that there really needs to be these sorts of fruitful but difficult discussions about what exactly each party wants from each other. And I just-- I want there to be a fruitful dialogue.

CATHY WURZER: I'm curious. There's so much joy and enthusiasm around this ticket so far. But I'm wondering. And both of you are active in the Democratic Party. Is there anything that you think that could throw cold water on the enthusiasm for this ticket, especially among young voters? Maddie, what do you think?

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: I think as of right now, I think what the Walz and Harris ticket are doing in terms of recognizing how important youth voices are is consequential into why we are having this amount of support for that ticket. I think that if they were all of a sudden ignoring our voices or, again, ignoring the views of everyone who is involved in certain discussions, I think that could really damage and dampen the support that they are both receiving. Although as what I am seeing right now and from what I have been reviewing over the past few weeks, I think that their momentum will hopefully continue to grow in that regard.

CATHY WURZER: And Cori, same question to you, too.

CORI STOCKARD: I think, ultimately, the campaign has to keep doing basically exactly what they're doing up until the election. I think that they can't really afford to have any intense changes and narrative and strategy or anything like that. They pretty much have to stay on the track that we've-- on the trajectory that we've started with. And I think if they do that, then everyone who's happy currently is going to continue to be happy. And if they stray from the course, then people won't be so happy.

CATHY WURZER: Say, I'm wondering here with about a minute left. There are going to be a lot of speeches, of course, the next few nights. Are you planning to watch any of those speeches, any-- follow any of the influencers? Anything that's popping up at you out of the schedule that you really want to see or hear? Maddie?

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: Absolutely. I definitely think I'll be able to tune in to at least a little bit. I know that personally for me, I watch it either on YouTube, or I watch a streamer's reaction to the convention. But also, the big thing that I want to see is how different will it be from what we saw at the Republican National Convention. Because I just-- I'm hoping that our message will be clear and direct and will get things done in order to move the momentum forward to hopefully achieve a successful run and have our first woman, especially a woman of color, as the President of the United States, along with our governor, Tim Walz, as her vice presidential pick.

CATHY WURZER: And Cori, what are you looking forward to the next couple of days here?

CORI STOCKARD: So I'm someone who's very Interested in rhetoric and the logic of public speaking and that sort of thing. So I think that's very exciting. And also, Obama, one of the things that really boosted him as being a presidential candidate was the speech that he gave at the DNC. So I think that if you're really paying attention, you could find someone at the DNC this time around who really is going to have a future in national politics or whatnot. So I think that's the thing that I'll be paying attention to.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Maddie and Cori, always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

CORI STOCKARD: Thank you for having me.

MADDIE CHRISTENSEN: Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Maddie Christensen is a recent graduate of Hamline, former leader of the College Democrats there. Cori Stockard is an incoming senior at the University of Minnesota, which he is also at-- he's the president of the College Democrats at the U of M.