Can Tim Walz's Midwestern charm work in Michigan?

FLINT, Michigan — Larry Safford is well known in his central Michigan community.

He's a veteran, a former crime-scene specialist and a John Wayne super-fan. The 85-year-old farmer is also nearing the end of sweet corn and raspberry season, and his 20 acres of land is full of new and old customers. He gives away pumpkins to kids in the fall and plows snow for his neighbors in the winter.

In many ways, Safford represents an American vision of the stereotypical Midwesterner: Honest, hardworking, kind. He told USA TODAY the region he calls home means bad weather and football — and no, not everyone is nice.

More: What's it like to debate Tim Walz?

When it comes to politics, Safford voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Four years later, he said he felt he couldn't trust the sitting president of the United States to put the American people first and so he cast his 2020 ballot for Joe Biden. Here in 2024, Safford said he's excited to see Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as an alternative to an aging, 81-year-old Biden.

At first, he didn't know much about Harris' running mate, Tim Walz. He was already going to vote for the Democrats, but when he learned about Walz's credentials — a native Nebraskan from a family of farmers, a former teacher and football coach, and a veteran — Safford said he saw himself in the Minnesota governor.

"It's more about (Harris and Walz's) principles than where they're from," he said. Safford, who relies on a fixed income, said having someone in the White House with similar experiences to his own gives him hope for the future.

From visiting fire stations and talking about labor union rights to posting videos online with his daughter about the state fair, proper car maintenance and gutter neglect, the 60-year-old Walz has long been cultivating a public image around being the dad-next-door. He was doing that even before joining a contentious presidential campaign where the winners get to lead the country for four years.

Now a major player in the 2024 election, the two-term Minnesota governor has centered his White House campaign trail appearances around his working-class background. He's been recalling stories of hunting, touting his service in the Army National Guard and highlighting his Midwestern family values.

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"Here's the deal, we're nice folks. We'll dig you out after a snow storm. We'll say 'hi' at the store. Some of us might even let you merge on the highway - not all of us," Walz joked earlier this month during a campaign visit in Grand Rapids, Mich.

He added: "We have a saying for that, it's Minnesota Nice, is what we call it. I'm sure you have it too. But the one thing I'll tell you about Midwesterners that stretches across that beautiful blue wall of Northern America here, the one thing about us is, don't ever mistake our kindness for weakness."

For many Republicans, Walz is just another part of Harris' campaign and doesn't speak for working-class voters. In Michigan, a state GOP spokeswoman working with the Trump campaign recently called the Minnesota governor "a Midwesterner who hates the Midwest."

"Michiganders won't be fooled by his fake camo hat, donut eating dog and pony show," added the spokeswoman, Victoria LaCivita.

But Harris' decision to add Walz to the Democratic ticket has so far appeared to help her with voters more than Trump's move to bring aboard Ohio Sen. JD Vance, according to a recent poll from the Detroit Free Press, a USA TODAY Network partner. Another poll gave Harris-Walz a slim lead over Trump-Vance in Michigan, but the state's all-important 15 Electoral College votes are still up for grabs in November.

On Tuesday, Walz will take on Vance in New York City during a vice presidential debate where the interactions will be very different from the kinds of friendly encounters he's had so far with campaign trail voters and back in his home state. He will have to defend his own shortcomings, including criticism surrounding his leadership during the chaotic fallout and protests after George Floyd's murder while in police custody, while also cheerleading for Harris' policies and campaign promises.

Both VP candidates have a mission Tuesday and for the next month of appealing to America's undecided voters, particularly in battleground states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Effective messenger, ineffective message

At a Trump townhall in Flint earlier this month, USA TODAY spoke with numerous attendees who, when asked about Walz, were quick to sidestep the Minnesota governor's role in the campaign and instead directly criticize the Democratic presidential nominee.

But 61-year-old John Nagy told USA TODAY that he thought it was telling how Harris picked Walz for a running mate over other politicians, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

"Here's a Jewish American, very popular in a very crucial swing state that I think she needs in order to win, or be competitive," Nagy said of Shapiro. "I think Walz highlights the far left of her policy. She could have selected somebody more centrist."

Nagy added: "(Shapiro is) Jewish, and then we got this whole (anti)semitic thing going on in the country, and you select Walz? That's just so telling. And instead of trying to come back to the middle, he, in a sense, pushed her over the far-left edge as far as I'm concerned."

More: Shapiro, Kelly, Beshear, Buttigieg, Pritzker: Why Walz beat them all, and what comes next.

Walz on the presidential campaign trail often repeats the slogan "mind your own damn business" when pushing back against Republican policies on issues including abortion. But Nagy said Walz's governing approach in Minnesota — signing a law that prohibits banning book with LGBTQ+ material, providing all schools with menstrual products, and protecting the right to abortion — prove that he is against the Midwestern morals he claims are so important.

Nagy, like Walz, is a hunter and veteran. But just because they have those things in common, he said, does not mean that Walz reflects the ideals of a Midwesterner.

More: Democrats hope to win over moderates using conservative values

"I think you have a working-class person, they just want to work hard, and they want to take care of their families, and I think when you start having a policy that dictates what other people do versus what they want to do, I think that detracts from your point," said Nagy, a Flint native and avid Trump supporter.

Riding the middle line

To Bethann Sampson, a third-year theater major at the University of Michigan-Flint, the economy is her number one issue when voting this year and having someone in office who understands financial struggles is crucial. Born and raised in Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, Sampson said Walz stands out in contrast to other modern-day politicians who she doesn't think are as good at being in touch with bread-and-butter economic issues.

"I can't stand seeing people who have no idea what it's like to live our lives right now telling us what we should be doing to fix it," the 20-year-old told USA TODAY.

Sampson said Walz could be a change from the status quo with his working-class background and having a limited financial portfolio. Sampson, who works three different jobs while maintaining status as a full-time student, said Harris' running mate strikes her as an everyday American.

More: ‘We feel seen’: Midwestern Democrats soak up the spotlight as Tim Walz ascends at the DNC

"He represents ideals that people on both sides can relate to and feel," she said.

Shortly after he joined Harris' ticket, internet memes about Walz's relationship with his son went viral, with users joking about which mundane attributes and anecdotes they deemed accurate for the father of two.

"I feel like a lot of the younger generation can relate to him as an authority figure of maybe their own father," Sampson said. "He's also supportive of guns, yet I feel like he recognizes that we need reform in that."

In 2023, Walz signed into law universal background checks and a red flag law in Minnesota that allows law enforcement to intervene when an individual is at risk for hurting themselves or others with a firearm. As a white, older man who hunts, and someone who has successfully advocated for reforms before, Sampson said Walz is an effective messenger for pushing federal restrictions.

But Walz has received backlash for these very moves and changing his stances on guns, going from being rated "A" by the National Rifle Association to "F". His change in tone came in 2017 after the deadliest mass shooting in modern history at a music festival in Las Vegas.

During his Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago, Walz addressed the discrepancy.

"Look, I know guns. I'm a veteran. I'm a hunter. I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress and I have the trophies to prove it," Walz said in August. "But I'm also a dad. I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe that our first responsibility is to keep our kids safe."

'What goes around comes around'

As the VP pick, Walz has already spent significant time in battleground states like Michigan. He traveled to East Lansing and Grand Rapids just in the past month and is practicing for the VP debate while in the small resort town of Harbor Springs.

More: Hot mics and no seats: Here are the rules for the VP debate

On Saturday, he stopped in the college town of Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan versus University of Minnesota football game.

"Tim is the guy you want to hang out at the tailgate with or the guy you want to go into a fight with, because he's a happy warrior," Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told USA TODAY. She added that Walz's ability to relate with voters on any level, especially in swing states, is key in a close election.

"He's down to earth, he works hard, he shows up, he's quick to laugh," added Whitmer, the 53-year-old old two-term governor whose name got bandied about earlier this summer as a possible Harris running mate before she removed herself from consideration. "And he's gonna fight for something that matters."

Walz' character traits are among the things that appeal to Johnny Williams, a 71-year-old dishwasher with a thick Southern accent but who considers himself a true Midwesterner. Born in Georgia and a cross-country traveler for years, Williams said he first fell in love with the sense of community when he moved to Ann Arbor - and then Midwest football.

Working in food service for most of his life, Williams told USA TODAY he has seen the good and the bad sides of human nature at the 24-hour Fleetwood Diner. But he noted that in the same way he still enjoys watching politics, what happens during his job has only grown his love for the country.

"Every day is a test," Williams said. "That means whatever a person says, you can still get along with them."

Williams said he isn't concerned about whether nice-guy Walz could make it through the presidential campaign and all the way to Washington, D.C.. He argued that kindness can get someone far in the world, and Walz has karma on his side.

"He'll survive," he said. "What goes around comes around."

— Sam Woodward is the Minnesota elections reporting fellow for USA TODAY focusing on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's candidacy. You can reach her at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tim Walz campaigns in Michigan. Will his Midwestern charm cut it?