Is Tim Walz Actually a ‘Permission’ Slip for White-Dude Voters?

There has been something strange and novel about the Kamala Harris campaign and its attitude toward white voters, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was almost as if there were a subtle, subversive, but unspeakable message going out.

It was in evidence in the weird race-segregated Zoom calls and merchandise like “White Dudes for Harris.” It was in the strange way they had cast Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, as an avatar of white maleness. They like to call him “Coach” (he was an assistant coach). The message was something like, “It’s okay to be a white — well, let’s not say ‘man,’ let’s say ‘dude.’”

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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There has been something strange and novel about the Kamala Harris campaign and its attitude toward white voters, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was almost as if there were a subtle, subversive, but unspeakable message going out.

It was in evidence in the weird race-segregated Zoom calls and merchandise like “White Dudes for Harris.” It was in the strange way they had cast Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, as an avatar of white maleness. They like to call him “Coach” (he was an assistant coach). The message was something like, “It’s okay to be a white — well, let’s not say ‘man,’ let’s say ‘dude.’”