A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota. He has roots, though, in Nebraska, where people are talking about their former neighbor. Here's Nebraska Public Media's Brian Beach.
BRIAN BEACH, BYLINE: In the red state of Nebraska, it was an exciting time for a small group of Democrats and a few others when Tim Walz accepted his party's nomination.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We're here to celebrate a really, really good guy, Mr. Tim Walz.
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BEACH: The gathering took place at Central Park in Alliance, a town of 8,000 people in the western part of the state. Attendees held signs that read, congratulations, Coach Walz, and speakers shared their memories. Walz taught geography and coached football and basketball in Alliance during the early '90s before moving to Minnesota. One of his former students, Jenny Lanik, said Walz had a sporty Mazda every teenage boy at Alliance High School had their eyes on. Her date to Homecoming got to drive it to the dance.
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JENNY LANIK: My date had mentioned, you know, taking me to Homecoming in his car. Essentially, Mr. Walz threw him the keys and said, here you go. Take her.
BEACH: Other former students shared their memories of Geography Jeopardy and Coach Walz running wind sprints with the rest of the football team. Walz was born about 70 miles northwest of Omaha. After moving around a bit, his family landed in the tiny rural town of Butte, Neb., to be closer to relatives after Walz's father was diagnosed with lung cancer. Walz graduated from Butte High School in 1982.
Driving along the northern tier of Nebraska, there isn't much outward support for the ticket Walz shares with presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, even in Butte, where Walz's mother and uncle still live. The town is located in Boyd County, a Republican stronghold. Barbara Nicolaus is the owner of the Firehouse Bakery and Cafe.
BARBARA NICOLAUS: It's an awesome thought to think that someone from small Nebraska is in the running. But whether that will change a vote, everybody's pretty much set. You're a Republican, you're a Republican. You're a Democrat, you're a Democrat.
BEACH: Still, Walz alluded to lessons he learned in Butte in his DNC speech.
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TIM WALZ: Growing up in a small town like that, you learn how to take care of each other.
BEACH: Walz went to college at a state college, Chadron State. It's in a county where former President Donald Trump won more than 70% of the vote in 2020, but the city also recently had a Democratic mayor. That's Miles Bannan, who currently serves on the city council in Chadron. He attended Chadron State College around 20 years after Walz graduated.
MILES BANNAN: To hear Tim Walz say that he went to Chadron State College blew my socks clean off. I had no idea. And that was - you know, that's really inspirational to me.
BEACH: After college, Walz taught on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Native American Reservation and overseas in China. He returned to Nebraska in the early '90s, where he taught geography and coached football at Alliance High School. The city's former mayor, Earl Jones, was a school administrator during that time. He says he wasn't surprised when Walz was selected as the vice presidential nominee.
EARL JONES: He was so enthusiastic about everything, whatever he was doing. So that's the thing that stuck out.
BEACH: But Walz's record in Alliance wasn't entirely positive. In 1995, Walz was arrested for drunk driving after being caught going 41 miles an hour over the speed limit. He offered to resign his coaching and teaching positions but ended up staying the rest of the year. Jones says Walz's response showed his integrity.
JONES: He felt like he'd failed people. And it's not a reaction that you see very often. You know, most people make excuses or hide from it or try not to tell anybody.
BEACH: In 1996, Walz and his wife moved to Minnesota, where he continued coaching and teaching before being elected to Congress and later governor. Now the man from Nebraska hopes to become the nation's vice president.
For NPR News, I'm Brian Beach in Alliance, Neb.
(SOUNDBITE OF FEDEMUSIC'S "NOISES OF THE RURAL ENVIRONMENT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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