Tim Walz at the Minnesota State Fair Redefines BDE: Big Dad Energy

Tim Walz doesn’t drink coffee, which is a shame, because the man is a prime candidate for a novelty mug if there ever was one. Instead, he’s a candidate for vice president of the United States, as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced Tuesday morning. Potato, po-tah-to, right?

Walz, the current governor of Minnesota, brings a long military career, recognition in the Midwest, a white male presence, a proven savvy for political soundbites (as demonstrated by his successful deployment of the term “weirdos” to describe the right’s candidates, adopted enthusiastically by Democrats since), and his own brand of BDE—Big Dad Energy—to the ticket. If you need proof of that last quality, all you have to do is watch videos of Walz at the Minnesota State Fair with his daughter, Hope.

How are ye Dad? Oh, let us count the ways, just in a minute-long clip he shared on his gubernatorial Instagram account in September 2023.

This man:

Chose “Ye Old Mill” as his thrill for the day. It is quite literally the oldest ride at the fair, and is described on the website as “a relaxing boat ride in a dark tunnel” featuring “kitschy vignettes.”Had no idea what the “Slingshot” was, despite the function of the thing being in its name.Is wearing a Bruce Springsteen t-shirt in the wild.Is thrilled at the idea of getting a corn dog.When reminded that his daughter is a vegetarian in regards to said corn dog, concedes, “turkey, then.”When further reminded by Hope that “turkey’s meat,” in a voice that lets the “we’ve been over this before, Dad” go unspoken, cheerfully responds, “Not in Minnesota. Turkey’s special!” Walz is absolutely pumped to get his hands on that tube meat. (As a side note, Walz seems to have kind of a thing with turkeys, strongly implying in his last tweet before the VP announcement that the species as a whole is actively trolling him. Is it a coincidence that his famous hotdish recipe contains turkey instead of beef as its protein? You tell us.)While riding the Slingshot, post-shot and mid-sling, Walz does this scream-laugh thing over and over and over. He can’t quite manage a fist bump with his daughter and pulls more of a…perhaps we could call it an alignment of forearms? Some ulnar contact? He tried, and he’s holding it together, and that’s what’s important. Upon exiting the ride, our brave papa says, “It was… ok.” He quickly yes-ands himself, telling Hope and the TV camera, “That was so worth it, good call.”And that’s just one little snippet of Dad’s day at the fair. He also made time for some political chatter for public access radio and TV amidst the festivities.

This, of course, wasn’t Walz’s first rodeo state fair. In 2018, he participated in the fair’s Agrilympics Butter Carving contest, where he cheerfully accepted light roasting from a commentator who pointed out that “I keep seeing pieces chopped off,” waving his little orange carving tool and grinning from under the brim of his now-signature camo baseball cap. In 2019, Walz once again carved out his place in both butter and history, making a little school bus out of his hunk of dairy and proudly displaying the bright pink honorable mention ribbon he received for his efforts. Butter carving is an important tradition at the fair, with an artist carving likenesses of the fair’s finalists for Princess Kay, State Fair royalty, out of some 900 pounds of butter.

Do you need to see Walz cuddle a tiny pig like it’s his sweet porcine baby? He’s got you: In 2019, he stopped by the “Oink Booth” and happily gave a little piglet a big ol’ huglet.

The fair has actually been around longer than Minnesota itself, beginning as a sort of agricultural booster event in 1854 and adopting the official title of Minnesota State Fair in 1859, just a year after Minnesota became a state. And lest you think Walz is a Minnesota-only guy when it comes to fairs, think again: He has deemed Iowa’s rendition (another frequent campaign stop for presidential hopefuls, where he stumped for President Joe Biden and Harris last year) the “second best fair!!!”

Sounds fair enough.

And the best news yet is that this year’s Minnesota State Fair begins on August 22, overlapping with the final day of the Democratic National Convention. There’s still plenty of time for Walz to stump on the fairgrounds and get plenty of face time with both voters and his beloved corndog. Meet you at Ye Old Mill, Dad.

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