Gwen Walz talks importance of education in Virginia in first presidential campaign event

The First Lady of Minnesota rallied a room full of educators and school personnel with Midwestern charm and chants of, “We’re not going back!”

In her first solo event since Vice President Kamala Harris picked her husband Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Gwen Walz rallied a raucous room full of union educators in Manassas on Friday.

The Harris-Walz campaign hoped to strike a contrast with its record and policies on education with their opponents Donald Trump and JD Vance. After speaking about her experience in the classroom, Walz remarked that the beginning of the school year always has a sense of unlimited possibility in the air – a feeling she likened to the current mood of the Harris-Walz campaign. 

“We’re feeling that joy, and we’re feeling that hope,” said Walz, a former educator and former member of the American Federation of Teachers union. “We are ready for that fresh start. We are ready for a new way forward.” 

“We are not going back!” pic.twitter.com/AE6BAYtEm5

— Michael O'Connor (@oconnor_reports) August 30, 2024

The Harris-Walz campaign is touting Harris’ work securing large investments in public education and Gov. Walz’s signing into law legislation that guaranteed free meals to students in Minnesota. By contrast, Project 2025, the maligned conservative playbook Trump and Vance have tried to distance themselves from, includes proposals to eliminate the Department of Education and the Head Start program for young children in poverty. 

In addition to telling more about her story as a teacher, Walz went on the attack, dispelling misinformation from the Trump campaign to chants of, “That’s a fact!” and calling out Vance for recent comments disparaging teachers without children. 

“We do not take kindly to folks like JD Vance telling us when or how to start our family,” Walz said. “Let me use my teacher voice…‘Mr. Vance, how about you mind your own business!’” 

The morning event held in the hall of the Park West Lions Club in Manassas was attended by a crowd of about 100 people that included union educators and school personnel, many donning shirts that said “Educators for Kamala and Tim.”

Virginia elected officials on hand to show their support for the Harris-Walz ticket were US Sen. Tim Kaine, former Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton, US Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia’s 10th congressional district, and Manassas City mayor Michelle Davis-Younger. 

Early voting begins on Sept. 20. Learn more about how to vote at Dogwood’s Virginia voting guide.