1. The 60-year-old Walz is currently chair of the Democratic Governors Association, but before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, he represented the state’s 1st Congressional District and—before that—served in the Army National Guard for 24 years.
2. He is also a former educator who taught social studies for 20 years before becoming a politician in Mankato, Minn., a small city south of Minneapolis.
3. As governor, Walz has a strikingly progressive record, having overseen, among other things, the legalization of recreational marijuana in Minnesota, the implementation of universal background checks, the protection of gender-affirming services, legislation that enshrined abortion rights, and a plan for transitioning to clean energy.
4. A year ago, surrounded by Minnesota students, he signed a free lunch bill into effect, and was promptly hugged by the crowd, which seemed to delight and surprise him at the same time.
5. Walz is also responsible for one of the most memorable attacks on the Republican Party this election cycle to date, calling them, simply, “weird,” and birthing a million memes in the process.