This year's Democratic playbook features a lot of football

Democrats are finding their footing on football, promoting their pigskin backgrounds and talking up the game. Republicans, however, see an inauthentic rebrand.

When Vice President Kamala Harris introduced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her new running mate at their first rally together, she called him “coach.”

One of the first stops on the campaign’s pre-convention bus tour was to a town in Pennsylvania where Walz spoke to a high school football team.

And then, at the convention itself in Chicago last month, Walz received his own pep rally when a parade of his former players took the stage wearing their old jerseys.

Walz’s football ties are a lynchpin of the Democratic effort to brand itself as the “normal” party this fall, right up there with Walz’s love of hunting and Harris’ time working at McDonald’s. 

Embracing football is a striking play because it is something of a shift for a party that had been growing steadily more critical of the game — particularly on player safety. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democratic-playbook-football-tim-walz-rcna168284

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