As the November 5 presidential election approaches, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz has been making headlines for various reasons. The Minnesota governor, who is running alongside presidential nominee Kamala Harris, has been actively engaging in campaign efforts to appeal to young male voters, a demographic that has shown concerning poll numbers for the Democrats.
Recently, Walz took to Twitch to engage with a younger audience by livestreaming a game of Madden, the popular American football video game, alongside Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The stream drew around 12,000 viewers, according to Fox News. Throughout the event, both Democrats encouraged their audience to support Harris’s presidential campaign and stressed the importance of maintaining a Democratic majority in the Senate.
Ocasio-Cortez used the platform to criticize Donald Trump, saying that defeating him has been her number 1 priority for the year. She also took her time in addressing the recent controversial comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico. The stream followed other Democratic initiatives, including ads on sports gambling platforms and gaming websites.
However, Tim Walz’s efforts were not without missteps. Following the livestream, he posted on social media about Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to “run a mean pick 6,” misusing the football term. This error led to mockery from critics, including Republican vice-presidential candidate Senator JD Vance, who questioned Walz’s football knowledge despite his background as a former high school coach.
Adding to the campaign’s challenges, a recent report in the Daily Mail has brought attention to Tim Walz’s past. The article alleges that during his time teaching English in China in 1989, Walz had a relationship with Jenna Wang, the daughter of a senior official in the Chinese Communist Party. Wang claims the affair deeply affected her, stating that Walz doesn’t have the “character and integrity” for his current role.