Jimmy Baker didn’t consider himself to be much of a political person. At least not until his former football coach took to the national stage, running for the second-highest office in the land.
That candidate, of course, was Gov. Tim Walz, whose Everyman appeal was enough to get Baker engaged.
“Right away, I was super excited,” he said, “like I still to this day and moving forward, I just don’t feel like we can go out and find a better, more invested and more qualified individual than Mr. Walz.”
Baker is one of the many graduates of Mankato West High School, where Walz taught and coached from 1996-2006, who organized and rallied for him after Vice President Kamala Harris tapped him as her VP choice.
The past four months — from the time of that announcement to the Nov. 5 election that broke their hearts — was a whirlwind for many of those alumni who stood behind Walz during the campaign.
Sarah Manes, a 1999 graduate of Mankato West, said she appreciated Walz’s work as governor. Since then, she said her appreciation for him has only grown.
“The last, you know, three and a half, however, many months has been absolutely surreal and a proud moment for so many people,” Manes said.
She recalled running into Walz at the airport a couple of years ago and hugging him. He remembered her. “He is a real person,” she said. “He is our teacher, that’s who he is. He’s our neighbor — a member of our community who happens to be our governor.”
Anxious but hopeful
Manes, who lives in Minneapolis, was part of that alumni network that volunteered for the campaign. She said she remembered the anxiety she felt before the vice presidential debate and how she felt more confidence during the week leading up to the election.
She said the energy level was still high on Election Night eve among alumni, with people hosting watch parties in places like a Bar of Their Own in Minneapolis, which is owned by a Mankato West alum.
Manes tuned in from her house. She thought it would be similar to past elections when it took longer than anticipated for a winner to be declared. But when that seemed to no longer be true — and it appeared the GOP ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance would win the night — she turned off the TV early into Tuesday night.
“I was like, ‘OK, this is actually not what I was thinking, and I’m just gonna kind of detach as much as I can,’” she said.
On the night of the election, Baker joined a couple hundred people at a watch party in Mankato. He said it quickly became clear how the results were shaping up — but he stayed around until midnight.
“I was one of the last people there,” he said. “Kind of like the last guy at the bar … where the organizers and all those people were cleaning all the seats up and stuff, and then there’s just one person left. That’s kind of how I felt.”
He was also one of the former Mankato West football players who stood behind Walz at the Democratic National Convention in August.
A single dad and North Mankato resident, Baker frequently interacts with people who voted for Trump. While he’s heard their arguments for why they chose the president-elect — many pointing to the economy — he doesn’t understand how so many people chose Trump over the other ticket.
“I want — just as much as anyone else — I want our economy to be amazing. I want prices to be good. I’m a single dad. Of course, I want to be able to afford stuff,” he said. “I just didn’t really want to believe that there’s just so many people that would allow their judgment to be clouded, or are so angry and hurt that they would look past so many negative things and allow somebody to lead us like we chose.”
Manes said the day after the election felt difficult for her with all of the division in the country. “I think that we have all felt pretty heavy,” she said. “Literally and figuratively, there was a dark cloud, and it was really, really hard.”
Organizing for ‘Mr. Walz’
When Walz was selected as the vice president candidate, a group of alumni reached out to Manes initially for a simple request, but it quickly became “an alumni, grassroots campaign group of people,” she explained.
That group’s core included about 25 alumni, she said, some of whom were involved with past Walz campaigns.
They created a Facebook page for alumni who supported Walz, using it to connect people across the country when there were rallies happening in other states where alumni could attend.
Noah Hobbs, a student of Walz’s in 2004, made some phone calls for the campaign and said other alumni participated in virtual fundraisers. In early October, he went to a Mankato West football game where Walz appeared to support the candidate.
He looks up to Walz both as a person and in his career in public service. Hobbs served on the Duluth City Council for six years and now works in affordable housing.
“After having watched Mr. Walz’s trajectory, it made politics much more accessible. It wasn’t this thing where you had to come from an elite family name or deep-pocketed money and all of that,” he said.
On election night, after spending some of the day making phone calls for the campaign, he went on a local news station as a guest during election night.
“I’m certainly disappointed in the outcome,” he told MinnPost. “You look at the content of character between the two tickets, and certainly with Mr. Walz to Mr. Trump, is a disparity that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand.”
Looking ahead
Manes said she’s glad Minnesota gets to keep Walz as governor and for the progressive policies of the state.
“To hear other people from different parts of the U.S. say, like, ‘Oh my God, I want to be a Minnesota resident,’” she said. “What a privilege it was to watch him on such a large stage these last three and a half months. Our hearts swell and gratitude for what he and (his wife) Gwen have done and will continue to do.”
Baker has had interactions with those with different political views in the past week, but he’s not sure the best way to navigate it.
“It’s really weird. I’m still kind of struggling with how to deal with people, mainly opposing mindset people,” she said. “They mostly think that this is just basically just like when (Trump) got elected in 2016. They basically look you in the face and say, ‘We won. Too bad. Now sit there and be quiet, and we’re gonna have our president do something.’”
Regardless of the outcome, the alumni said they feel immense pride in Walz. And for some, like Baker, his time in the national spotlight may have been a pivotal moment in their decisions to become more involved.
“I feel like I have the responsibility to help,” he said. “I feel like I’m intelligent enough to make good decisions. I feel like I can speak well enough to help people understand what I’m thinking and hopefully help them get on the right path, as well.”
He added: “If my kids are going to take me seriously and I’m going to do everything I can for them, then I feel like I need to do something more. When these kinds of things come up, I just — I’m realizing that it’s not appropriate for me to be sitting off to the side.”
Ava Kian
Ava Kian is MinnPost’s Greater Minnesota reporter. Follow her on Twitter @kian_ava or email her at akian@minnpost.com.
