The Democratic National Convention kicked off in Chicago on Monday with the Illinois delegation breakfast, which featured a surprise speaker: Gwen Walz, the wife of Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Speaking to the delegates, lawmakers, and journalists in the room, Gwen Walz shared that she and her husband met while teaching at the same school—and that she and her family love to visit Chicago for their New Year’s Eve celebrations, according to POLITICO. She went on to express support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who announced earlier this month that she chose Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
“I can’t think of a better team than Kamala and Tim,” Gwen said at the breakfast. “They want to give everyone a chance at the American Dream. And isn’t that what we all want?”
Tim Walz introduced his wife as he joined the presidential ticket: “I can’t wait for all of you and America to get to know my incredible wife, Gwen, a 29-year public school educator,” he said at a rally in Philadelphia earlier this month. “Don’t ever underestimate teachers.”
Here’s what to know about Gwen Walz.
Gwen Walz, 58, was born in Glencoe, Minn. Her parents were both teachers and small business owners, and she has three younger sisters. She earned degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University before moving to Nebraska, where she followed in her parents’ footsteps and began teaching.
While teaching high school English there, she met Tim Walz, who was a teacher at the same school. They went to a movie for their first date, and Gwen later told The Minnesota Star Tribune that she turned down a kiss from him, prompting her now-husband to respond: “That’s fine, but you should know I’m going to marry you.” They got married in 1994.
They later moved back to Minnesota and started working at Mankato West High School, where she taught English and he taught social studies.
The Walzes have two children: Hope, 23, and Gus, 17. They have been outspoken about how they struggled with infertility, and have criticized Republican-led efforts to roll back reproductive health care, including fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Read More: Where Tim Walz Stands on the Issues
Gwen Walz has been a vocal supporter of increasing access to education for people who are incarcerated. She’s toured prisons and worked with the Bard Prison Initiative, which aims to provide college educational opportunities in prisons.
“She was a devoted Midwestern public school teacher who approached education without prejudice or presumption about what kind of students might achieve what kinds of things and a real optimism for all kinds of students,” Bard Prison Initiative founder Max Kenner told USA TODAY. “She also had a real frustration, or even feeling of disappointment, of how much we’ve failed in this country to create real educational opportunities for so many people, particularly access to college.”
Gwen Walz has previously said that she and her husband “have always worked as a partnership,” describing themselves as each other’s “closest advisers.” She has taken on an involved role as a political spouse—she was the first gubernatorial spouse in Minnesota to establish her own office in the state Capitol, according to the Star Tribune. She’s even filled in for her husband before—The New York Times reported that she took the stage in Tim Walz’s place at a 2006 fundraising dinner for her husband’s congressional campaign after he had gotten sick with laryngitis.
