Walz touts Nebraska roots in visit to his home state where there's a battle over one electoral vote

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tim Walz touted his Nebraska roots Saturday in his first trip back to his home state since becoming the Democratic vice presidential nominee, and drew sharp contrasts between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Playing to the crowd, Walz noted his love of Nebraska football and joked about the historical significance of the Stonehenge replica built out of classic cars known as Carhenge that sits near where he taught in the Panhandle. He then emphasized the values he learned growing up of helping neighbors and minding everyone's own business.

“More than anything else — just like here in Nebraska — Minnesota's strength comes from our values,” he said about the state he serves as governor.

Walz stressed that he and Harris believe in helping all Americans succeed — not just the millionaires and billionaires he said Trump and the GOP want to help. It was all part of his appeal for the lone electoral vote in Omaha's swing Second Congressional District that can be split off from the rest of the heavily Republican state that Democrats Joe Biden secured in 2020 and Barack Obama in 2008. That swing vote is sure to be contested. Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is expected to visit Omaha next week for a private fundraiser hosted by Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts.

“I think it just proves the importance that we as the blue dot — CD2 — has,” Omaha teacher Wes Jensen said.

Going after Republicans as intrusive in people's everyday lives, Walz said the fact they want to make decisions about Americans’ health care including abortion rights and try to hurt Social Security is “not just weird, it’s dangerous. And when they try to overturn elections, that’s not just weird, it’s un-American.”

He said Trump and his fellow Republicans are “super concerned with our bedrooms, our exam rooms and libraries.”

Nebraska Democrats Chairwoman Jane Kleeb joked near the start of the event that Omaha has a new nickname, “Kamaha,” as she encouraged everyone at the rally to work hard to elect Harris and Walz in November.

Supporters hope Walz’s knowledge of rural America — he grew up in the small towns of Valentine and Butte in the Sandhills — could help Democrats appeal to wide swaths of Republican strongholds where they have rarely been competitive in recent elections.

Former state Sen. Al Davis, who represented the Panhandle town of Alliance where Walz taught for six years before moving to Minnesota after meeting his wife, said he thinks Walz “can speak to rural parts of the country in ways that other candidates never could do." He added, "so I’m hoping that that will turn some votes in rural parts of Nebraska and across the Midwest."

Alliance residents are planning a local rally of their own next week to watch Walz speak at the Democratic convention in Chicago.

Even before Walz took the stage in Omaha, the Republican National Committee accused the Harris-Walz ticket of not representing “Midwestern values” and said Nebraska voters “will send a resounding message” when they help put the former president back in office.

Bill McCamley of Lincoln said he remembers that Walz was interested in government when he taught him social studies in the seventh grade in Valentine but he never expected him to go on to become governor or perhaps vice president someday.

McCamley said Walz came up with the idea on his own in the seventh grade to build a veterans memorial for everyone from Cherry County who had served in the military, and then he convinced local leaders to build a sidewalk for the memorial.

“I went with him, but he did the job. He talked to them and said this is that idea. This is what I want to do,” McCamley said. “Then he ... got them to agree to go along with it. I thought that was pretty impressive.”

McCamley had to call the state Democratic Party to get access to Saturday's rally after the online registration system was shut down once 10,000 had expressed interest in attending the rally at a theater in the Omaha suburb of La Vista that's only designed to hold about 2,500 people. However unlikely it was, McCamley hoped for a chance to reconnect with his former student and jokingly confront him about a valentine he gave his daughter, Julie Long, when the two dated in the seventh grade.

Long said she hung onto the valentine Walz gave her for a lot of years because the message declaring, “Ours is a strange and wonderful relationship,” made her laugh. On the inside, the card said, “You're strange and I'm wonderful.”

“That kind of sums up his humor,” said Long who used to compete with Walz to see which one of them was smarter because her dad was a teacher and his was the superintendent there.

They both moved away in high school and Long lost track of Walz — outside of a chance meeting when both of them lived in the Panhandle — until she noticed him showing up in the news as governor dealing with difficult problems like the protests that followed George Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis police.

After dealing with that unrest and managing to pass key priorities like protections for abortion and free lunches for school kids, Walz has a long list of accomplishments that will appeal to Democratic voters.

But Long said Walz might also appeal to Republicans because he is smart, funny and cares about helping people.

“I think if people are willing to listen — really listen — to the things that he says and, and those kinds of things, that it will open some doors,” said Long who now lives in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, is introduced by his former student Aubri Faustman at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Supporters of Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz cheer after a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz waves to the crowd outside after a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, at The Astro in La Vista, Neb. (AP Photo/Bonnie Ryan)

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz fist bumps a supporter during a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Wayne, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz arrives to speak at a campaign rally Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Romulus, Mich., before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington expects manager Derek Shelton to return next season.

Cherington said Wednesday that Shelton remains “the right person to manage this team in 2025” despite an August swoon that dropped the Pirates out of postseason contention.

“I think there’s a lot to the job I believe he does really, really well and I also believe he works his tail off to continue to improve in a number of ways,” Cherington said.

Shelton is 288-404 (.415) in nearly five full seasons in Pittsburgh, which swept a three-game series from Miami on Wednesday.

The Pirates hoped to take another step forward in 2024 behind rookie pitchers Paul Skenes and Jared Jones. While they were above .500 and in the middle of the wild-card race at the July 30 trade deadline, Pittsburgh has slumped down the stretch and is on pace to finish with around 76 wins, right where the franchise was in 2023.

Still, Shelton sees progress.

“We’re in a definite, much better spot than we have (been) in the last two years with our starting pitching,” Shelton said Wednesday. “We’re deeper than we have been. We need to continue to build some things offensively and continue to grow that depth.”

Cherington hired Shelton in November 2019 to handle the major league roster as Cherington began a top-down overhaul of the organization. The steps back toward relevance have been difficult. The Pirates finished last in the NL Central in each of Shelton's first three seasons as Cherington traded away veterans like Joe Musgrove and Josh Bell while restocking the minor league system.

The team upped its record to 76-86 a year ago and 2023 top overall pick Skenes' arrival in the majors in mid-May gave the franchise the kind of buzz it has lacked since reaching the playoffs three straight years from 2013-15.

While Skenes has dazzled — he is 10-2 with a 2.10 ERA through 20 starts — the bullpen has been a mess and the lineup has struggled to produce regularly. The Pirates are near the bottom of the National League in every major offensive category, including runs (11th), home runs (13th) and on-base plus slugging percentage.

Though Cherington endorsed Shelton, he was less committed to the rest of the coaching staff. Hitting coach Andy Haines' job status is likely up in the air with runs continuing to be hard to come by.

“We will get to the end of the season and have an opportunity to look at the entire (coaching) group and decide, again consistent with the point about faster improvement and more improvement, if any adjustments are necessary to give ourselves a better chance to do that,” Cherington said.

The Pirates already have started making changes to the scouting department, though Cherington declined to call it an “overhaul.”

The major league roster remains a work in progress. The team moved 6-foot-7 shortstop Oneil Cruz to center field earlier this month after he struggled defensively. Third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes is dealing with back problems that limited his power. They currently have three catchers under control for next year — 2021 top overall pick Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Joey Bart — and a glaring need at first base if they don't re-sign Rowdy Tellez, who has rebounded from a slow start.

Designated hitter Andrew McCutchen, who on Tuesday night reached the 20-homer plateau for the 10th time in his career, wants to come back next season and Cherington is optimistic that will happen.

“We would love to find a way for Andrew to finish his career in a Pirates uniform,” Cherington said.

Still, McCutchen is one piece of a complicated puzzle.

“(We) believe the team is better than it was last year and (it's still) not good enough,” Cherington said. "We need to make it better. There’s no one thing that’s going to do that. There are lots of things that are going to do that. We’re responsible for delivering and we’ll keep focused on that.”

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Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton reacts in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)