EXCLUSIVE: ‘Tim Walz Wasn’t Political, What Happened To Us That Day Changed That’

Matt Klaber remembers the first time he encountered Tim Walz, a teacher at his high school in Mankato, Minnesota.

Klaber, now a software engineer based in London and a longtime activist for the Democrats, was studying in the school library when he noticed a teacher in a bit of a rush. He tells Deadline:

“I recognised Mr Walz as an 11^th grade geography teacher, the husband of my own journalism teacher, and he was dashing out of the door. What I found out was that he’d been activated in his role in the National Guard, responsible for responding to natural disasters. There was a flood in St. Paul, and he was off to lead the response to that. I can remember it struck a chord with me that a person would contribute to the community in such a way.”

Cut to the summer of 2004, and Klaber, by then 19 and freshly graduated, learnt that the campaign to get George W Bush re-elected was rolling into town with a rally planned at a local quarry venue. With two other politically minded students, he queued for three hours to get a ticket: “I didn’t agree with the guy [Bush], but my feeling was this might be my only opportunity to see a sitting president, which would be cool.”

Except Klaber and his pals were turned away, with organisers telling them, “No tickets, you’re not supporters.” (It’s a small town, he explains, where everybody knows everybody else and who they vote for.) After a call to a local newspaper and a report by a local TV station, their tickets were reinstated, on condition that they be on their best behaviour, but they grew increasingly nervous about attending the event.

Klaber recounts: “At that point, having already had some trouble, one of our group dropped out, and we looked around to see who else we could go with. We found out Mr Walz was planning to go, and we thought it would make sense if we had a grown up to back us up.”

The students’ fears proved well-founded. When their group including Walz arrived at the event, they were interrogated once again about their reasons for attending. He remembers: “They asked for our IDs, so I pulled out my wallet. It had a John Kerry sticker on it, which they took as proof I didn’t support the president, something they already knew.

“Mr Walz was asking, ‘What’s going on? They’re with me, they’ll behave.’ So they turn on him, saying, ‘Who are you? Why are you with them? Who do you support?’ He pushed back, saying he’s a local teacher, a National Guard command sergeant major and he’s here to see the president.”

Ultimately, Walz was allowed into the event, but the two students were turned away – “They said the Secret Service had identified us as a threat to the president, which was rubbish” – and Walz continued to be hassled. “The whole episode galvanised him,” Klaber reflects. “He wasn’t political at that point, but this experience changed that. He was activated just like that day in the library.”

Walz himself has recalled the evening on social media, describing it as “the moment I decided to run for office.” He writes on X:

For the rest of that year’s presidential contest, Walz and his wife ran the Democrat office for their county. Within two years, Walz had made his own debut run, and won election, as a Congressman.

Klaber, having volunteered for Walz, went on to develop campaign software for the Democrats in both 2008 and 2012. He was standing in Grant Park, Chicago, for Barack Obama’s triumph, and joined the pre-inauguration committee both times.

Klaber moved to London in 2018, the same year Walz became Governor of Minnesota. He sensed that his former teacher would be Kamala Harris’s choice for running mate as soon as he learnt her desired criteria:

“I read she was after a governing partner to support the agenda. Not to disparage the other candidates, but I knew that was him to a tee.”

The Minnesota native was in Chicago for this year’s Democratic National Convention, where, as Walz’s guest, he checked in with fellow high school alumni. He laughs:

“We’ve always stayed in touch, but that was the weirdest high school reunion ever. The next day they had friends and family to the hotel to chat.”

As for a reported three million US citizens living overseas, Klaber’s vote in the election is carried in an envelope posted back to his home county. He plans to spend the final few days ahead of November 5 in Las Vegas, volunteering in a swing state – “2020 was the first presidential election since 2000 I did not do something, I wasn’t going to let this be another one” – and he says carefully of the outcome:

“Whatever happens is an incredible testament to the Vice President and the Governor. Three months ago, this was Trump’s to lose. The fact that it is a tied race is a ton of credit to them. Whatever the outcome ends up being, the fact that it is so close is impressive.”

And what of Walz, a man known to his local community back when Klaber first encountered him, but now sharing the stage for this crucial chapter in American history? Klaber is far less circumspect:

“The Tim Walz that America has gotten to know in the past few months is exactly the guy that I’ve known for 20+ years.

“One of his side roles at high school was assistant football coach. In his first few congressional races, we did an ad about him being a football coach, and the Harris campaign picked up on that. It made sense, because it’s who he is. He is absolutely genuine, he is a happy warrior, passionate and here to help others make things better. He’s not there to win the game, he’s there to help the team win the game.”