For Some Women, Tim Walz Is the Dad That Fox News Stole From Them

Among the clamor of excitement surrounding Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, is a group of people decidedly more sentimental about the decision. They aren’t upset that she chose the Minnesotan Governor…it’s just the opposite. For a handful of folks (so far, mainly white, millennial-aged women) Walz is more than an affable and plain-spoken Midwestern governor—he’s a stand-in for the dads they’ve lost to the increasingly radical right.

“A lot of us [liberal women] had moderate to conservative, educated, sensible fathers that we lost to Rush Limbaugh…to Fox News…to Donald Trump,” TikTok user Pamela Wurst Vetrini says in a video that’s amassed over 2.3 million views in just 24 hours. Her video also amassed thousands of comments from people sharing their experiences of “losing” their dads to fringe beliefs, with one commenter joking that they’ll all be “trauma voting” for Harris and Walz this November.

“I’m calling us alt-right orphan Annies,” Vetrini tells Jezebel over a phone call on Wednesday. A majority of the commenters are “millennial women who lost touch with their father like me” Vetrini says, but noted, “a lot of men were relating to the same situation.” Some commenters also mentioned divorcing their husbands or losing their moms over similar tensions.

@pamelawurstvetriniTim Walz is the dad that we lost♬ original sound – TheMostes I PamelaWurstVetrini

“The cult of conservatism has driven a wedge between millennial women and their fathers,” Vetrini continues in her viral video, adding how Walz “represents all of those qualities that were stripped away from my normal father by this cult and it makes me sad.” Genial, good-humored, and dripping with an aura of common sense, Walz does give off cartoonish levels of sitcom dad.

Vetrini doubts her own father, who lives in South Georgia and with whom she is seldom in touch, has seen the video. Her sister, however, (obviously) deeply related to it and jokingly told her, “If [this TikTok] gets you free tickets to the inauguration of the first female president, I would like to claim those tickets.” 

This intense response to Walz is pretty parasocial, and I’m sure psychoanalysts could have a field day with it. But it does feel notable just how many people are grieving the loss of someone to “the cult of conservatism.” While the Harris team chose Walz, in part, for his ability to reach men who’ve been lost to the conspiratorial cable news schools of thought, I doubt they anticipated the deep chord he’d strike with their children, family members, or ex-wives.

In another TikTok, Dr. Emily Rath explains through tears (and occasionally heavy sobs) that she feels like “Tim [Walz] is who my dad used to be.” Rath, who identifies as queer, says how difficult and strained her relationship with her father has become due to his staunch conservatism. “I lost him in the rise of conservative white nationalist Christianity,” she says. “I miss him, I feel like he’s dead.”

Another TikTok user, Nikki Winner from Southwest Ohio, who also made a video sharing this sentiment, told Jezebel in an email that “it’s refreshing to see a Boomer dad type who is both lovable and loving…this is what we wish for our own dads rather than the conspiracy theories, fear of LGBTQ+ people, and a ‘send them back’ mentality towards immigrants.” 

Tim Walz is the dad an entire generation wish they had instead of the one they lost to Fox News.

— CQ (@coketweet) August 6, 2024

As for what exactly Walz projects that fills the void these ideologically absent fathers have left, Vetrini says it’s that “the support he offers women is uncomplicated, it’s steadfast, and it takes a backseat.” Not so coincidentally, those are some of the exact reasons Harris chose Walz. “He had a very clear understanding that it was to be a partner, to support the president, go out and connect with America and be that governing partner,” Cedric Richmond, a Biden White House adviser involved in the selection process, told CNN. 

We’re still three months away from seeing if any of this will ultimately translate to voter turnout. So far, Harris’ two-week-long presidential campaign has subsisted mainly on good vibes and the sheer shock that Democrats have pulled off this late-in-the-game lineup change. The campaign has yet to publicize any concrete policy platforms, although it’s probably safe to assume that they’ll closely resemble President Biden’s. But the conventional wisdom that a VP pick ought to “do no harm” can be roughly translated into modern lingo as, “doesn’t kill the vibe.” The outpouring of enthusiasm for Walz and this idea of him as a surrogate father figure to a generation whose dads had their brains warped by Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson is clearly upholding that. 

“I would love to be neighbors with Tim Walz, to chat with him on the sidewalk,” Vetrini said. “I do not want to ever run into Donald Trump in real life.”