Gwen Walz, wife of Minnesota’s governor, speaks in La Crosse about Tim Walz’s VP campaign

Minnesota’s first lady came to La Crosse, campaigning to help her husband become vice president.

Gwen Walz spoke to a crowd of about 200 people at the Concordia Ballroom on Tuesday, just before the televised presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Gwen and husband Tim Walz made careers as teachers before Tim entered politics, and she urged Democrats at the watch party to follow the advice of teachers: “If you work hard, you can get ahead, and not just scrape by.”

Mrs. Walz says she and Tim generally campaign as if they’re 10 points down in the polls, so they work hard.

She also talked in favor of reproductive freedom, and said school shootings are “out of control.”

In remarks made minutes before the debate, Mrs. Walz said Republicans are suggesting that Americans need to make choices between medicine or rent, between medical care or having a paycheck.

She added that those should not be real choices in this country, and her message to Trump is “mind your own business.”

Mrs. Walz passed along advice from her mother, who talks with her frequently.

“What she still says to me almost every day, ‘Gwen, you’ve got to do the work that’s in front of you,'” Gwen said.

Among local Democrats who appeared with Gwen Walz in La Crosse was Wisconsin Assembly Rep. Jill Billings (D-La Crosse), who said Gwen Walz “gave a nice intro” to the presidential debate.

The La Crosse County Democratic Party hints that more big-name candidates or their relatives may campaign in the area soon.