Tim Walz appearance prompts protests and silent treatment at high school football game: Getting desperate

Minnesota governor Tim Walz waltzed onto the bleachers at Mankato West High School on Friday night to watch a team he once coached as an assistant play a big rivalry game. Walz’s appearance also coincided with protests at the high school, as Pro-Palestine supporters were seen standing outside the venue.Multiple reels of footage of Walz interacting with families on the bleachers at the game showed the game’s crowd behind him.Many were visibly indifferent to the vice presidential candidate’s presence.Multiple attendees were seen staring silently.

However, some attendees were talking to and even hugging the governor. The one recorded instance of Walz garnering cheers from the crowd was when he joined both teams just before the game to help with the coin toss.When his name was announced on the loudspeaker, a few mild cheers from the Mankato West bleachers could be heard. Walz’s presence at the game prompted controversy among locals. Former Republican Minnesota congressman Jeremy Munson urged people to show up and boo Walz days before the game, in a post on X.Meanwhile, chair of the Blue Earth County GOP Yvonne Simon told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Walz’s appearance at the game was due to desperation. “They’re getting desperate to get the word out,” Simon said. The Harris-Walz campaign’s latest effort is to tie the Minnesota governor’s candidacy to his stint as the assistant coach of the Mankato West High School football team in Minnesota in the 1990s.During Walz’s tenure as an assistant on the staff, the team won the state championship in 1999.Walz’s first job out of college was as a teacher in China, before being hired by Mankato West in 1996, where he was a geography teacher. He was also the first faculty advisor of Mankato West High School’s first gay–straight alliance, and he worked to organize summer educational trips to China for high school students.Walz’s short tenure as an assistant football coach has been a tal...