Democrat Tim Walz, who faces Republican JD Vance in the debate on Tuesday, likes to talk about his rural roots in the American Midwest.
• Also read: Tonight’s running mate debate: What to expect from Tim Walz and JD Vance?
But, in Butte, a small town of 270 inhabitants where Kamala Harris’s running mate went to high school, Beth Lechtenberg laughs every time she hears him play this card.
“The consensus here is that we do not want him to lead our country,” this breeder told AFP. “His morals and values do not match ours.”
The mother of three opposes the Minnesota governor on everything from abortion to his handling of the Black Lives Matter protests.
Because, in Butte, we carry our right-wing convictions as a standard. A “Trump 2024” flag flies in front of the community center that will serve as a polling station in November.
Surrounded by cornfields, the village consists of a post office, a bank, a family café and a bar. The nearest grocery store is 10 kilometers away.
On an agricultural warehouse, a banner “God, guns and Trump” was posted as a motto.
Suffice to say that Tim Walz is not really a prophet in his country. The speech of the locals rather reflects the polarization of America: they are rather negative, even if they remain polite, as is the tradition of the area.
“I’m friends with a lot of his family. And none of them will say anything good about him,” assures Brad Kallhoff, 58, owner of a transport company. “They say Tim was a good boy back then. But what happened to him in Minnesota?
“Torn apart”
Born in West Point, childhood in Valentine, high school in Butte: Tim Walz shared the beginnings of his life between three small towns in Nebraska.
But it was Butte, where his mother still lives, that the Democrat highlighted during his speech to introduce himself to Americans during the Democratic convention in August.
He praised this rural corner, where “the family down the street may not think like you (…), but they are your neighbors, you pay attention to them and they pay attention to YOU”.
Its politics nevertheless remain very far from those of the county, which voted 87% for Donald Trump during the last presidential election.
His political rise was “very, very difficult” for residents to digest, confides Jean Hanson, a high school friend of Mr. Walz who left Butte in 1980.
“They want to be proud. This is the best thing to happen to Butte in so many decades. And yet, they are torn,” explains this 63-year-old accountant from her home in Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska.
“They want to be proud of him, but he is very democratic,” she continues. “It’s very difficult.”
Vice-presidential debate shunned
In Butte, several residents are indeed grateful to Tim Walz for having brought their village out of anonymity. But they would have liked him to belong to their political family.
“It gives people hope, because it shows that you can get by coming from such a small school and such a small community,” concedes Britanie Brewster, director of the local museum.
But “her opinions are very different from those of people here,” the thirty-year-old immediately adds.
Few residents plan to watch Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, which takes place at the same time as a girls’ school volleyball game and a meeting of local volunteer firefighters and coincides with harvest season.
“We know his positions and I don’t have the impression that we are going to learn anything new,” continues Mme Lechtenberg, the breeder. “I think everyone will be in the fields. It’s a beautiful day, and they’re going to work.”
Even Mr. Walz’s mother, Darlene, explained to AFP that she had to be absent on Tuesday. But, according to her neighbors, it’s for a good reason: she flew to New York to support her son.
