Tim Walz

 New Yorker - As Kamala Harris introduced Tim Walz as her running mate to the public for the first time, at a rally in Philadelphia last week, she ran through his titles: Governor, husband, dad. He was Representative, Sergeant Major, and Mister Walz—that’s what his students called him, back when he was a social-studies teacher. “And to his former high-school football players,” Harris said, building toward the payoff, “he was Coach.” She flashed her biggest smile. ...

Football may be the last great bipartisan issue in the United States—N.F.L. games dominate the list of most-watched programs on television every year. Still, the sport, with its pronounced hierarchies, its emphasis on discipline, and its fairly thoroughgoing machismo, is arguably coded as conservative. The White House occupants most closely associated with it—including Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford—have largely been Republicans. It was something, then, to see a bunch of Democrats at a scene reminiscent of a homecoming pep rally, which was clearly not lost on the Harris campaign. During her speech, Harris referred to Walz as “Coach Walz” nine times.