Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz delivered remarks in Chicago on Wednesday night to close out the third night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

After taking the stage to the song “Small Town” by John Mellencamp, Walz thanked President Joe Biden “for four years of strong historic leadership.”

“It’s the honor of my life to accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States,” the governor said. “We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason: We love this country.”

“Thank you for your passion,” he told his supporters. “Thank you for your determination. And most of all, thank you for bringing the joy to this fight.”

Walz spoke about the small town in which he grew up. “I had 24 kids in my high school class and none of them went to Yale,” he said, likely as a dig at his opponent, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-OH.

“Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute,” Walz stressed while discussing his upbringing. “For me, it was serving in the Army National Guard.”

Since Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris selected Walz to be her running mate earlier this month, he has faced extensive scrutiny for allegedly misrepresenting parts of his military record.

Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com

Multiple members of Walz’s unit have criticized elements of the now-vice presidential candidate’s tenure in the National Guard.

Many critics, including Vance – a Marine Corps veteran – have even accused Walz of “stolen valor.”

During his DNC speech, Walz said he “proudly wore my nation’s uniform for 24 years.”

He did not address the controversy surrounding his time in the military at any point during his remarks.

“I wound up teaching social studies and coaching football,” Walz stated, recounting his pre-political career. “Never underestimate a public school teacher.”

After a dozen years in the U.S. House, Walz “got right to work making a difference in our neighbor’s lives,” he said. “While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.”

The American left widely uses the phrase “banning books” as a euphemism for the growing parent-led movement to remove books with sexually explicit content from schools and the children’s sections of libraries.

“We also protected reproductive freedom,” Walz said, referring to abortion. “Because in Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make.”

In the past few weeks, several analysts have scrutinized a pair of pro-abortion bills Walz signed as governor last year. National Review’s Dan McLaughlin argued that the bills effectively allowed forced abortions to take place in Minnesota.

Walz’s critics have also brought up the lockdowns and COVID shot and mask mandates he imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19.

While his controversial COVID policies were in place, Walz’s administration set up a hotline for Minnesotans to report their neighbors for violating the stringent orders. Critics including Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted the measure, calling it a “snitch line.”

“We’ve got a golden rule,” Walz said during his DNC address. “Mind your own damn business.”

“When we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love,” Walz stated.

“Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor,” he continued. “Take Donald Trump and JD Vance.”

“I’m ready to turn the page on these guys,” Walz told the crowd of Democratic activists. “Say it with me: We’re not going back!”

“We’ve got something better to offer the American people,” he said. “It starts with our candidate, Kamala Harris.”

Harris had fought “on the side of the American people,” Walz said.

He later said that if elected president, Harris would “take on big pharma.”

The candidate later asserted that in a Harris-Walz administration “healthcare and housing are human rights. And the government stays the hell out of your bedroom!”

Walz closed his speech: “As [Harris] always says, when we fight, we win!”

LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.