Tim Walz accepts Democratic VP nomination in DNC speech [Video]

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president Wednesday night at the party's convention in Chicago.Walz took the stage with delegates waving hundreds of Coach Walz signs and Small Town by John Mellencamp playing in the background. Walz began his speech by talking about his small-town upbringing in Butte, Nebraska, where not everyone believed the same thing or loved the same way, but saying, Everybody belongs, and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.Walz went through his professional resume, starting with his work as a high school teacher and coach. It was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress, he said. I learned how to work across the aisle on issues like growing the rural economies and taking care of veterans.Walz said, Never underestimate a public school teacher, as he described how he won a seat in Congress after a career as a teacher with no prior political experience.He also touted some of his policy achievements as governor while critiquing his GOP counterparts. While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours, he said. In a dig at Republican VP nominee JD Vance, he added, I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale.Watch Walz's full speech in the video player below.Additionally, Walz also talked about his family. When he discussed the difficulty of conceiving his daughter, Hope, she made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest. His son, Gus, wept watching his dad speak and at least once shouted, That's my dad!He finished his speech returning to his coaching roots.Let me finish with this, team. Its the fourth quarter. Were down a field goal. But were on offense and weve got the ball," Walz said. He said that Democrats have to do the blocking and tackling, making phone calls and knocking on doors over the next 76 days. There will be time to sleep when youre dead, he said.As Walz wrapped his speech to wild applause, his walk-off song Rockin in the Free World played. The classic rock fan selected the song, according to a campaign aide, and rocker Neil Young signed off on its use.Young famously sued Trump for using the song at his campaign rallies without permission.

An inquiry into the murder of seven newborn babies by British nurse Lucy Letby starts on Tuesday to examine how the killings went undetected over several months, amid questions about her guilt which bereaved families say are distressing.