When Kamala Harris was choosing a running mate, a running joke was that it had to be a white guy to appeal to the nation’s white guys. I, as a progressive East Bay guy who’s actively supported women for a variety of offices over more than 20 years, scoffed. I don’t need to be pandered to! Harris was one of my favorite candidates for President four years ago!

Then they introduced Tim Walz, I read about him and heard him talk, and I’ve never felt more appealed to in my entire life.

Walz is the portrait of healthy masculinity in the 21st century. He has traditionally manly interests and hobbies but doesn’t make them his entire life. He was a football coach and teacher, jobs far more normal than you ever find in politics. He’s made mistakes in the past (a DUI in 1995) but learned his lesson and used it as an opportunity to grow and improve (he hasn’t had a drink since). And, more important than any of that, he works to better the lives of people different from him not out of tolerance but respect.

So, obviously, after my column outlining Harris’ history, I want to write about Walz, too.

The Harris campaign declined to make Tim Walz available for me to ask him about music—I actually did ask, you never know until you try—but over more than 15 years in politics as a Representative and Governor, he and people he knows have talked about his taste. So, according to my research, here are some of Walz’s favorite music artists.

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Prince — “Little Red Corvette”

Without knowing who Tim Walz is, I would assume he likes Prince, because everyone likes Prince. If someone says they don’t, you should back away slowly and notify the authorities because they’re hiding something and it’s not good. Prince is an American institution, a foundational part of our pop culture, and incredibly cool.

On top of that, Walz is Governor of Minnesota, Prince’s home state. I don’t think they let you not be a Prince fan in Minnesota. It’s pretty much all they’ve got going on up there!

It’s a certainty, though, since in May 2023 Walz went to Paisley Park and signed a bill renaming a nearby stretch of highway the Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. The signs with the name are all purple.

Bob Seger — “Against the Wind”

Before Elon Musk utterly obliterated it in a drug-fueled frenzy of bigotry and poor decisions, the best way to find out what a middle-aged white guy’s musical taste is was to follow him on Twitter. We loved tweeting about music. Those of us with the ability to flee the Twitter wasteland still love posting about it on Bluesky. It’s a goldmine of research.

For example, in December of 2020, Walz tweeted, “Teaching [his daughter] Hope about old school stereo set ups. We’re sharing the joy of classic vinyl and Bob Seger. Quality speaker wire matters people!!!”

First off, anyone who makes a point to mention the speaker wire is one of us. I’m pretty sure if I could ask him personally rather than a low-level member of the campaign comms department, he’d have talked with me for hours. Maybe he still will. If you know him, call me.

Second, going straight to Seger is exactly what you’d expect from a Midwestern father of two. The look on his face, and the look on his daughter’s face, almost certainly happens in households across the country. Look at them! [Gokhman note: As a girl dad, can confirm the look].

Warren Zevon — “A Certain Girl”

We’re going back to Twitter: Walz is not subtle about his love of Warren Zevon.

In May of 2023, the same month he honored Prince, Walz tweeted, “As Governor of Minnesota I cannot believe Warren Zevon was not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” Then in December he tweeted his vinyl haul from a Minneapolis record store that included Zevon’s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School.

That haul also included Genesis, Steve Winwood and the Moody Blues, which is also pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a Midwestern father of two. Not as good as Zevon, but I respect it.

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The Replacements — “I’ll Be You”

We can also get information from people who know Walz. Like, for example, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke.

When Walz was announced as VP, O’Rourke posted a novel-length tweet about their friendship. I don’t expect you to read the whole thing since the whole point of Twitter was not having to read 10,000 words we don’t care about, but here’s the key paragraph:

“We became friends in Congress, going on early morning runs (in the dead of DC winter, I’m bundled in layers and he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts), talking Minnesota music, the Replacements (Tim!), Prince, Dylan, Husker Du, and sharing stories about our families and hometowns.”

The Replacements are a Minneapolis band, so it makes sense Walz would be familiar. In fact Prince, Dylan and Husker Dü also came from the frozen north, so it’s possible he was just pandering. But I don’t care. I choose to believe it.

Bruce Springsteen — “Born to Run”

You take one look at Walz and you just know he’s a Springsteen fan. It’s basically the free space on a bingo board. I hesitated to include it because it was so obvious, but it just kept coming up in my detailed stalking research.

For example, that incredibly long O’Rourke tweet? The included photo was of the two of them at a Springsteen show. Then there’s the 2023 Minnesota State Fair. He posted a video of him and Hope, who was once again visibly embarrassed, on the slingshot ride. He’s wearing a Springsteen T-shirt. He declared March 5, 2023 as Bruce Springsteen Day in Minnesota because The Boss had a concert in the state. It’s possible he made the proclamation as a way to score himself a free ticket, because before a 2022 show, Walz used his influence as Governor to put out a call on Twitter to see if anyone had a spare ticket.

And that’s why he’s so relatable. I think any of us, given the opportunity, would try to score concert tickets from political office. Not in a corrupt way, or as bribery, but because we love music and are willing to take the shot.

Seriously, that was some excellent pandering.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.