Dad in Plaid

Progressive Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, has become popular for his jeans and Carhartt flannel shirts. At last month’s Democratic National Convention, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced Walz as a “dad in plaid” and a coach who turned a 0-27 football team into state champs. Despite his status as a governor, Walz carries himself as an everyman and a paragon of Mainstreet USA. 

Within our cultural zeitgeist, a person with his fashion sense and visual aesthetic is usually coded as a conservative. Over the past few decades, Americans have been led to believe that a divide exists between large cities and small towns. That people who look like Tim Walz and live in the places he’s from are different. But that isn’t true and the facts back it up. Progressive values are popular. People from all walks of life want to see change.