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Tim Walz uses baseball analogy at firefighters convention in Boston
“We got runners on base, and our heavy hitters are on deck.”
Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz received a standing ovation following his speech at the 57th International Association of Fire Fighters Convention in Boston on Wednesday morning, using sports analogies to highlight his track record of serving workers.
Walz admittedly knew he was in “Red Sox country” but still cheered “go Twins!” to show support for his home state of Minnesota before using a baseball metaphor to rally up the crowd at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
“We got runners on base, and our heavy hitters are on deck. We got the hometown going wild,” he said. “It’s time for you to step up to the plate.”
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Walz said his campaign has “69 days to win this thing.”
“Our hitters are coming up. It’s you,” he said. “This is a vision about what we can do together.”
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Walz called union halls the “purest form of democracy” and said “when unions are strong, America is strong.”
“When Vice President Harris and I win this election, we’ll have your back just like you’ve had ours this entire time,” he said to the crowd of one of the largest labor unions, which represents nearly 350,000 firefighters, emergency medical workers, and rescue workers in the United States and Canada.
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Walz’s speech came after IAFF General President Ed Kelly introduced the Minnesota governor, saying that the Minnesota state association has endorsed Walz every time he has run for office.
“He takes the time to listen. He learns about our histories and works very hard on our behalf,” Kelly said. “He’ll bring that same mindset back to Washington.”
Walz took shots at former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, for, in Walz’s view, their lack of support for workers and their rights.
“The only thing these guys know about working people is how to take advantage of them,” he said.
Walz also spoke about the repercussions of Project 2025.
“I’m an old time football coach. If you draw up a playbook, you plan on using it,” he said. “Project 2025 is a plan to reshape what America looks like, moving away from the middle class and putting it right back up to oligarchs and the wealthy at the top.”
Walz’s visit to Boston comes after multiple recent appearances in New England, speaking at a fundraiser in Back Bay’s Newbury Boston hotel and at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, earlier this month.
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The other half of the Harris-Walz ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris, also recently visited Massachusetts when she spoke in Pittsfield after launching her presidential campaign, and Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, gave remarks at a fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard.
As a Michigan firefighter, Chris Hella said he feels supported by Walz.
“He’s very supportive of everything we stand for,” Hella told Boston.com. “It’s nice to see that he came and talked here.”
Near the end of his speech, Walz made a call for national unity.
“We don’t have to go to every damn family gathering and fight about things that we mostly agree on,” he said. “We don’t have to find ways to divide us, and we can have legitimate policy discussions that differ on issues but come to common goals.”
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