Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke on Oct. 15 at a private home on Woodland Road near Chatham University’s Shadyside campus.
Around a dozen Chatham students attended the private donor event after associate professor of political science Jennie Sweet-Cushman received an invitation.
“It was cool,” Connor Domke ‘27 said. “We got to be, like, right up against the gate. And then when he was done speaking, he came down and shook his hands and took pictures and stuff, that was cool.”
The students were a part of Sweet-Cushman’s Campaign Elections class and heard Gov. Walz speak for around 20 minutes in a heated tent in the backyard of the home at 108 Woodland Road to the approximately 200-person crowd. This crowd consisted of students, campaign donors for Vice President Kamala Harris and some local Democratic leaders.
“It was a great speech,” Domke said. “It was kind of short, but it was kind of targeted about stuff about the area.”
This continues the trend of politicians visiting the key swing state of Pennsylvania. Dom Randall ‘27, one of the students, pointed to recent Harris rallies in Pittsburgh that featured former President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), former President Donald Trump’s running mate, is set to speak in Pittsburgh on Oct. 17.
“I think it’s been really great. This is my third one within, like, the last month. With President Obama coming, [Ocasio-Cortez] came,” Randall said. “It was a lot of fun. I think it’s very important to get swing states in and having those bigger names to draw more people out to these events.”
This event caused a section of Woodland Road to be closed to car traffic for around two hours without a prior warning to community members.
