On Tuesday, Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee for president, revealed her running mate: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Walz, 60, has served as governor since 2019 and though the country has only just started to get to know him, we’ve already learned quite a bit about his musical taste. Spoiler: it’s pretty good.
Below, we’re taking a look at seven of Walz’s Classic Rock Connections.
1. March 5 is Bruce Springsteen Day in Minnesota
Getting tickets to a Springsteen concert these days isn’t easy, not even for a governor. In July of 2022, Walz put out a call on his social media: “Anyone manage to get an extra Bruce Springsteen ticket today? Asking for a friend.” The following year, he was spotted at the Minnesota State Fair in a Springsteen shirt. And it turned out that he scored a ticket to the Boss after all — Beto O’Rourke recently shared a photo of them at one of Springsteen’s shows. To really seal the deal, in 2023 Walz declared March 5 as Bruce Springsteen Day in Minnesota, describing him as a “living legend.”
2. He Once Named an Entire Highway After Prince
Dig if you will the picture of Walz signing a bill at Paisley Park just outside Minneapolis which officially renamed a state highway after local legend Prince. That happened in May of 2023. “Today, I signed a bill renaming a state highway in honor of Prince – an artist who transformed the music scene in Minnesota and across the world,” he said then. “Prince was a proud Minnesotan through and through, and it’s only fitting that we honor this icon in the community he called home.”
Alex Kormann, Star Tribune via Getty Images / Ross Marino, Getty Images
3. He Firmly Believes Warren Zevon Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Who among us does not harbor at least one grudge against the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for overlooking someone we believe deserves inclusion? Walz, for one, “cannot believe” Warren Zevon is not a part of it, as he posted about in 2023. He also may have nodded to Zevon during his first official appearance as Harris’ running mate, telling an exuberant crowd in Philadelphia that he would work hard every day to win the upcoming election. “We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he said, which comes awful close to the 1976 Zevon song “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.”
4. Tim Walz’s Favorite Bob Dylan Song
You kind of can’t have a conversation about Minnesota musicians without bringing up Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan, who was born in Duluth and spent much of his childhood in Hibbing. Back in 2019, Walz even declared April to be Minnesota Music Month, citing native Minnesotans like Dylan, Prince, Lizzo, the Replacements and more as hugely influential figures. In 2021, in honor of Dylan’s 80th birthday, Walz told MinnPost his favorite track: “As a dad, ‘Forever Young’ has always been my favorite Dylan song. A timeless message from a dad to his son.” And in 2023, Walz was on hand when the Broadway musical Girl From the North Country, which features Dylan’s music, came to Minneapolis, specifically to the Orpheum Theatre, which was owned by Dylan himself from 1979 to 1988.
5. He’s a Husker Du Fan
According to Beto O’Rourke, he and Walz have shared many a conversation about various Minnesota musicians, including Husker Du, the punk rock band that formed in Saint Paul in 1979. Singer and guitarist Bob Mould is reportedly thrilled to see Walz on the ticket, and even more thrilled that he’s a fan of their music. “History is rhyming really fucking hard right now,” Mould recently told Rolling Stone, noting his support for Walz and Harris. “It’s like, just listen to the chorus.”
6. He’s Also Into the Replacements
Another of those Minnesota bands Walz and O’Rourke bonded over was the Replacements, who, like Husker Du, also formed in 1979, but instead in Minneapolis. It probably helped that the Replacements’ fourth album — and their first on a major label — is called Tim, released in 1985.
7. He Collects Classic Rock Vinyl
You can tell a lot about a person — or more specifically in this case, a political candidate — by what’s in their vinyl collection. In one 2023 post, Walz displayed his vinyl haul from the famous Minneapolis record store Electric Fetus, which included the Moody Blues‘ Long Distance Voyager, Steve Winwood‘s Arc of a Diver, Genesis‘ Duke and Warren Zevon’s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. Three years prior to that, he shared some photos of himself teaching his daughter about “old school” stereo set ups — “Quality speaker wire matters people!!!” he wrote.