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By Clay Masters

Tim Walz can’t log even a few miles jogging these days during the off-hours of the Democratic National Convention without getting caught on camera.

Minnesota’s somewhat obscure two-term governor — until recently at least — now moves about with a wide halo of security personnel and has people jostling to shake his hand or snap a selfie everywhere he goes.

“Trust me, my life is a lot crazier than it was 11 days ago,” he confided to one party crowd as he reflected on a bus swing through Pennsylvania over the weekend. “I never expected to be there.”

And Wednesday night, Walz will be viewed by millions of the politically interested or curious as he accepts the Democratic nomination for vice president. Walz will be on a stage bigger than he’s been on before and with stakes higher than they’ve ever been.

It’s part of a national launch that took flight only two weeks ago when Vice President Kamala Harris selected him after she locked down the party’s presidential nomination. The two have toured swing states since then but many Democrats in Chicago for the convention are seeing him in the flesh for the first time.

“I think it’s a welcomed relief you’re not getting somebody who’s a billionaire, who that really used their resources in order to get where they are,” said Massachusetts delegate Darnell Williams, who pointed to Walz’s time as a school teacher and football coach as what makes him relatable. “I think he’s a lunch pail kind of a guy.”

At the convention so far, Walz has been popping in for surprise visits to delegate breakfasts and affinity group meetings this week to promote the newly formed presidential ticket.

“This group of folks knows it’s well past time to put a woman in the White House,” Walz told the Democratic Women’s Caucus on Tuesday, entering to chants of “coach, coach, coach.”

He credited his own administration’s success in Minnesota to being surrounded by women in key roles at the Minnesota Capitol and listening closely to their advice.

“It’s amazing how far you can go just with that,” he said.

The remarks he gives vary by the audience. Walz spoke about strides his administration has made with tribal governments when he was in front of the Native American caucus. Before the party’s Youth Council, Walz said he talked about steps taken to address affordability of school lunch and higher education, and said it was his goal to minimize cynicism in politics that many in the room had grown up with.

And to an LGBTQ+ caucus earlier, he conveyed himself as a steadfast supporter of gay rights — a position he arrived at before others in his party were willing to speak out.

Brenda Aguirre, a delegate from San Diego, said people were eager to meet Walz when he stopped by the LGBTQ+ caucus.

“My partner decided to go somewhere else, and I texted him, he bolted,” said California delegate Brenda Aguirre. “But didn’t catch him.”

Aguirre said she didn’t know anything about Walz when Harris made her announcement but she’s quickly warmed to his speaking style.

“Knowing his record and LGBTQ issues, I’m queer, so that was super important for me,” Aguirre said.

It’s a bit of a race to define Walz, with Democrats and the Harris campaign trying to make him shine and Republican Donald Trump’s campaign working overtime to poke holes in his record and biography.

Republican Minnesota state Sen. Jordan Rasmusson of Fergus Falls said Walz has changed his tune since moving from a conservative-leaning rural district in Congress to the governor’s office. He said voters nationwide should receive him cautiously.

“Governor Walz had a lot of opportunities to try to work on a bipartisan basis and perhaps triangulate between the extremes in his party and working with the Republican Party,” Rasmusson said. “But he has decided that he wanted to raise his national profile and try to beat out California and New York on who has the most progressive policies.”

Among the things that Trump and his allies have brought up the most is the timing of Walz’s departure from the National Guard after 24 years and the rank he held at retirement.

In a letter to Walz released Wednesday through the Trump campaign, Republicans in Congress with military backgrounds demanded that Walz “come clean” to the public about his service record.

“To be blunt, when you falsely claim military service that did not happen and abandon your post, you diminish the real sacrifices made by veterans who did serve in combat,” they wrote. “Military service is not merely a job or a uniform.”

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut who was also in the running for the spot on Harris’s ticket, spoke at a veterans caucus meeting Tuesday. He defended Walz in remarks to reporters after.

“When you serve over 20 years in the military, you’ve earned over a career the opportunity to retire,” Kelly said. “He’s a patriot, a veteran and Donald Trump worked really hard to avoid being drafted into Vietnam.”

Republicans are also critical of his handling of riots after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

Democrats, meanwhile, like what Walz brings to the ticket.

Another California delegate, Nicole Crosby, didn’t know much about him when his name surfaced as the vice presidential pick. She sees Walz as a good choice.

“It’s not about him, it’s about the team, right? He’s the coach,” Crosby said. “And it sounds kind of like punny to say that. But really, it’s about bringing the greater good to everyone. So I think that’s really what’s going to get us over the finish line in November.”

MPR News politics fellow Ellie Roth contributed to this story