GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "I teach because I believe in people," Jeff Pietrowski said amidst a crowd of educators and supporters at City Built Brewing Company Wednesday.
Pietrowski is a middle school social studies teacher teaching American history.
It's a history he thinks is still unfolding.
"I think [education is] at a pivot point, just like our country, you know?" he said. "I know that there's a lot of school board races that are just like the national government; there are two sides that are that are pulling in each direction, and I think that it's so important that people get involved with the process and really do the homework, really try to figure out, 'What do these people running for school board represent,' and 'Is that how I feel about things.'"
It's a situation that in American politics, Pietrowski said, is the reason he came to see Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz as she traveled to Grand Rapids.
Walz, who's worked as a teacher herself, traveled to the area to stump for her vice presidential candidate husband Tim Walz and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Flanked by state leaders and education advocates, Walz honed in on that very topic.
"We believe in our bones that everyone deserves a chance to get ahead," Walz told the crowd gathered at the brewery. "It is the most important gift we can give to a child, and it is a vision that Tim and Vice President Harris also share. Now, together, they're going to build on that, and they are going to build an opportunity economy."
As she spoke to this economy she said is envisioned by the campaign, such was a message enveloped in a battleground state and an overarching economic arena targeted by former President Donald Trump's campaign as well.
"My vision is for a middle class that is once again the envy of the entire world," Trump said at an event at a metal facility in Potterville last week. "It's going to happen fast."
"Workers like you and communities like this should be able to afford a nice house, a new car and a growing family on a single income - all while enjoying the highest standard of living on Earth," he later continued that day.
But, in the eyes of many, it's not just the presidential level in play here.
"Michigan is going to continue to play a huge role in not only determining who's president but in making sure that we are victorious in the house and keep control of the Senate," Rep. Catherine Clark (D-Mass.) told 13 ON YOUR SIDE.
In an exclusive interview with, Clark, the Democratic Whip in the U.S. House and, thus, one of the conference's highest-ranking members, signaled success from Wednesday's event.
"Gwen Walz was just amazing," Clark said. "She is a teacher to her core. She met Tim Walz when they shared a classroom with a partition down the center, and she understands the power of education and that how we grow the middle class is by making sure we have great public schools. And that's where we're focusing - it's the issues and finding solutions that families talk about here in Grand Rapids and across the country, and it starts with a great education that everyone can access."
She also pushed back, however, on a narrative among some about what some viewed in recent weeks as scarce details on policy from the Harris campaign.
"Just today, she made another announcement on top of what she's announced about education, about how she's going to address our housing crisis in this country," Clark said. "Today, it was small business. So, these are Republican talking points, because they don't know what to do to address the momentum and the connection that Kamala Harris is making with American families."
As for the event on Wednesday, Walz called on supporters to use their skills to energize a base in an area up for grabs and key in November.
"Let's find ways that teachers know, that teachers figure out," Walz said. "Let's use our teacher minds to think about this race and this election and to get to people that maybe we couldn't have gotten to before, that others can't get to. Let's be the educators we are, and use our power in the way that we can, in the way that we will, in the way that we know that's special to our profession, to who we are, to what we know, to what we can do together."