As Gov. Tim Walz introduces himself to the nation, his daughter Hope helps him relate
Hope Walz had a job to do: film a PSA with her dad, Gov. Tim Walz, as Minnesota enacted hands free driving.
This was 2019 and Hope Walz, sitting in the driver's seat of a car, joked with her dad about just who was doing the texting and driving.
"We want to make sure our teen drivers are not texting—" Tim Walz started.
"No, no, no," Hope Walz interjected. "I think it's actually a mostly bald men."
"Cut!" the governor called.
The video is just one of the snapshots into the relationship between Hope and Gov. Walz that has resurfaced in the form of viral videos. Another shows the two at the Minnesota State Fair in 2023.
The two had an agreement: Dad picks something old to do and Hope picks something new. Her choice? The slingshot, an extreme ride that bungees riders in an open sphere into the air and back down over and over.
Then, he said, it would be time to eat. The governor called for corndogs.
"I'm vegetarian," Hope reminded him.
"Turkey then," Walz quipped.
The videos with his daughter are a new political dynamic that has rarely been seen on campaign trail, according to historian Kate Anderson Brower.
"I think that's what makes it unique is her comfort level and the fact that she does seem really charismatic and the fact that they can use her in a way to tell their story," Brower explained.
Now that Governor Walz has joined Harris on the ticket — Hope is on the campaign trail, even sporting a Harris-Walz camouflage hat that nods to the Midwest and pop culture.
Brower points to other first and second children who have gotten involved in politics over the years. But it’s still very common for families to stay private.
Even Harris’s two adult step-children, Ella and Cole Emhoff, have largely stayed out of the