Tim Walz

Timothy James Walz (/wɔːlz/ "walls"; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician, former educator, and retired U.S. Army non-commissioned officer who has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he is its presumptive nominee for vice president in the 2024 United States presidential election. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019, representing Minnesota's 1st congressional district.

Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska. He joined the Army National Guard and worked a blue-collar manufacturing job after high school. He later graduated with a teaching degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska before moving to Minnesota in 1996. Before running for Congress, he was a social studies teacher and football coach in the Mankato school district. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in 2006, defeating six-term Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht. He was reelected five times, resigning in 2019 after being elected governor. Walz represented a large, mostly rural section of southern Minnesota situated along the border with Iowa.