From Walz’s hometown to an American Legion, Minnesotans react to governor in VP debate
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At the Loose Moose Saloon in downtown Mankato, there was consensus among those at a watch party supporting Gov. Tim Walz: The former hometown high school football coach delivered when it mattered most for his teammate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Around 100 people filled a banquet room at the saloon a block from the Minnesota River. Many wore Harris-Walz ball caps and T-shirts. John Considine arrived in his red Mankato West football jersey, a memento of his 1999 state championship season when Tim Walz was his coach.
Just before the debate started, Considine said he was confident that Walz would hold his own because of his authenticity.
“He does a great job in communicating,” Considine said. “I think he’s a very sincere individual.”
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Walz and Vance sparred for nearly two hours over issues including climate change, immigration and abortion.
The group of Walz supporters cheered when the governor criticized Vance for spreading lies about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, and when Walz blasted state abortion bans that followed the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“This is about health care. In Minnesota we are ranked first in health care for a reason: we trust women, we trust doctors,” Walz said.
Throughout the debate, Walz also highlighted Minnesota's paid family and medical leave and universal school meal laws. When it was over, Barb Keith of Mankato — a volunteer with the group Faith in Minnesota — said that made her proud.
“I thought he was really strong in bringing out all the examples of how Minnesota is doing what he wants to do nationally,” Keith said. “And I know that many of us here tonight have been part of making that happen.”
Aaron Miller, who teaches U.S. History at Mankato West and coached with Walz, said the governor delivered his message with integrity.
“He wasn’t looking for meme-worthy lines. He really took this as a very earnest challenge, and I think he performed very well in it.”
Republicans react at American Legion Post in Chanhassen
At the American Legion Post in the southwest suburb of Chanhassen, a few dozen supporters of the Trump-Vance ticket watched the vice presidential candidates face off.
A Minnesota Political Action Committee called the Conservative American PAC sponsored the watch party.
Vicki Ernst, who chairs the PAC, said Vance clearly won the debate.
“JD Vance was very factual, and he was very articulate,” Ernst said. “He really did speak to the American people.”
The only other person at the GOP watch party authorized to talk to a reporter was Dresden Lonnes, an 18-year-old man from Waconia. He, too, thought Vance did a good job.
“I think JD Vance won the debate because he talked about the issues that Americans care about,” Including immigration and the economy, Lonnes said.
Lonnes said he’s getting involved in politics because he realizes politicians have a big impact on people’s lives and he’s looking forward to casting a vote for the first time in a presidential election.
“I’m a young man. I just got a job. I don’t have a lot of money,” Lonnes said. “Vance is just talking about the issues that Americans care about, like making things affordable, lowering prices, lowering inflation. And Trump did that when he was in office. And Kamala Harris, when she’s been in office, all the prices have gone up.”
Watching near where George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis
At the Peoples’ Way, the former Speedway gas station at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, community members arranged rows of benches as a motorized projector screen slowly unfurled beneath the building’s awning.
The intersection was where Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd in May 2020.
Roughly a dozen people gathered to watch the debate, screened via a projector onto the side of the abandoned gas station building. The enlarged faces of Gov. Tim Walz and fellow vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance appeared side-by-wide with the murals of people killed by law enforcement.
George Floyd’s murder did not come up during the debate, or past criticisms from Republicans of Walz’s handling of subsequent riots.
The crowd cheered loudest for Walz’s questions aimed at Vance’s refusal to say that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. “Did he lose the 2020 election?” drew cheers from the crowd.
Community member Sam Pitmon said he was glad that Walz “finally held JD Vance’s feet to the fire."
“I felt JD Vance was being disingenuous in a very reassuring way,” Pitmon said.
Former Walz students watch a DFL event in St. Paul
In St. Paul, former students of Mankato West High School — where Walz taught from 1996 to 2006 — gathered at a DFL watch party held at Dual Citizen Brewing.
Among them was Molly Bentley. She said Walz was her teacher for global geography and global studies at Mankato West between 1996 and 2000.
Bentley now works as a NICU nurse and said she sees many women who have miscarriages or pregnancy complications in their third trimester.
“The fact that people want to criminalize abortion is like, gets me to the heart,” said Bentley. “People who get abortions in the late trimester here, usually because they've received some sort of devastating news about their baby, and that news is typically heartbreaking. And being told that they don't have an option, they don't have a choice, is like the cruelest thing I can think of.”
During the debate, Walz supported reinstating Roe v. Wade and protection of women’s reproductive rights. In 2023, Minnesota lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz approved landmark changes to the state’s abortion law to guarantee legal protections for abortion providers and those seeking abortions. It followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“These are women’s decisions to make about their health care decisions, and the physicians who know best when they need to do this,” Walz said during the debate.
Bentley said she was touched by that. From a nursing perspective, she said preventative care is the important part to address. And she believes that’s something Republicans and Democrats can get on board with.
“The thing I love about Mr. Walz is he was always teaching us to find that common ground. How do we move things forward? When you look at something from somebody else's perspective, you can start to have that understanding,” said Bentley.
MPR News photojournalists Ben Hovland and Sophia Marschall contributed to this story.