Tim Walz in Politico.com

On Abortion: Has two children, both conceived by IVF

• Walz met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, a native Minnesotan, as they were both high school teachers in temporary classrooms. The first lady said she was irked by his loud voice disrupting her classroom.
• The two eventually moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where they both worked at Mankato West High School. "Gwen loved living in southern Minnesota. We jumped at the chance to move to Mankato and start our lives together."
• He has two children, Hope and Gus. Hope recently graduated from college in Montana, and Gus is in public high school in St. Paul.
• Both children were conceived through IVF and fertility treatments: "There's a reason we named [our daughter] Hope."

On Foreign Policy: Taught school in China; speaks Mandarin

• He spent a year teaching in China after college before returning full time to the Army. He traveled to China with one of the first government-sanctioned groups of American educators to teach in Chinese high schools.
• He still speaks Mandarin.
• Both worked at Mankato West High School. "Gwen loved living in southern Minnesota. We jumped at the chance to move to Mankato and start our lives together."
• Walz taught geography and coached high school football. "I don't know if every high school geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point."
• He was the faculty adviser for the school's first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999.
• Walz, 60, has drawn criticism for appearing older than his age. Walz responded to this on X, saying that it's because he "supervised the lunchroom for 20 years. You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me."

On Gun Control: 2016: Rated "A" by NRA; 2018: switched to "F" rating

• More than half of the bills Walz co-sponsored [in Congress] between 2015-2017 were introduced by non-Democrats.
• [As a member of Congress], Walz once earned an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and the group's endorsement. In 2016, Guns & Ammo magazine included him on its list of top 20 politicians for gun owners.
• He later denounced the NRA and supported gun-control measures, such as an assault weapons ban. During his first campaign for governor in 2018, the NRA completely downgraded his rating. "I had an A rating from the NRA. Now I get straight F's. And I sleep just fine."
• Shortly after the deadly Las Vegas shooting in 2017, which killed 59 people, he donated campaign contributions from the NRA to a nonprofit that supported the family of military members who died or were severely wounded while serving.
• Walz is an avid hunter and scoffed at JD Vance for talking about guns when "I guarantee you he can't shoot pheasants like I can."