(Georgia Recorder) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz paid a visit to Georgia Tuesday, stopping by colleges in Atlanta to urge young supporters to get out the vote for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Nov. 5 election quickly approaches.
“Look, some of these things are heavy and hard that we have to deal with, but hard work can be good work,” Walz said to a group of Georgia Tech students at Rocky Mountain Pizza, a popular spot near the campus. “Hard work can be joyful work, and hard work depends on somebody stepping up and saying, ‘I’m willing to do it.’ We got 49 days. We got 49 days to shape the next 40 years.”
Before heading to the pizza shop, Walz spoke briefly with students inside Georgia Tech’s John Lewis Student Center, named after the late Atlanta Congressman and Civil Rights icon, telling some of the youngsters about how he served alongside Lewis in Congress.
Some of the students jostled with members of the press to try to get photos of Walz, others seemed unfazed, and a few said they heard false rumors that former President Donald Trump was the VIP visitor causing traffic and security delays on campus.
Walz wrapped up his tour with a visit to Be. Coffee Tea Wine, a cafe near the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a coalition of historically Black colleges Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College and the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Students from all four packed into the eatery for a chance to shake hands with Walz.
Walz delivered similar speeches in both venues, touting policy measures that often resonate with young people, including abortion access, LGBTQ rights and student loan debt relief.
“Above all, the vice president talked about this, it’s about freedom, about freedom. Freedom to make your own health care decisions, freedom to choose the life that you choose to live, freedom to choose the career you want to by not being strapped with student loan debt for having the skills necessary,” he said.
“Things work best if people just remember that golden rule, mind your own damn business,” he said, repeating what has become a campaign catchphrase for him. “Down in Macon today, we were in the H&H restaurant down there, they had a big sign on the wall: ‘Mind your own damn biscuits.’ It’s very Georgia. I thought they put it up for me, and they were like ‘Hell no, we’ve always had that.’”
Walz stopped at the long-established H&H Soul Food Restaurant in Macon Tuesday morning before flying into Atlanta. He ordered a biscuit with fried chicken, bacon jam and pimento cheese, according to reporters traveling with him.
While at the restaurant, Walz also plugged Harris’ platform to simplify taxes for small businesses and give a $50,000 tax deduction for start-up costs.
At the Georgia Tech stop, Walz also brought up the recent shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people.
“I own guns, I’m a veteran, I’ve been around them, I’m a hunter, but look, this is not a Second Amendment issue, this is our first responsibility, to protect our people and our children, and we can do that,” he said.
Walz also referenced a second assassination attempt on Harris’ opponent, former President Donald Trump, in two months Sunday, thanking God that Trump was unhurt.
For the AUC audience, Walz criticized Georgia’s post-2020 Republican-led election revisions that he characterized as an attempt to discourage people from voting. He also praised Harris’ qualifications and the historic nature of her campaign. Harris, who graduated from the historically Black Howard University, is Black and Indian-American.
“The vice president doesn’t talk about the historic nature of her candidacy, she just does the work, and she does it better than anybody else. She just gets things done and just keeps driving the board. But I think for all of us, there is a moment in time to understand what’s happening here. I feel that, especially those young people, they recognize what it means, what this candidacy means.”
Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach, got a friendly reception from the students gathered to meet with him, but did not take questions from the press.
A sign of Georgia’s importance in the election, Walz’ visit marks the second time in as many days that a presidential candidate sent their VP pick to Atlanta after Republican J.D. Vance spoke before a conservative Christian group Monday.
In his remarks, Vance sought to paint the Democratic ticket as a potential disaster for immigration, crime and the economy.
Polls in Georgia remain largely within the margin of error.
