Current:Home > MarketsA soda sip-off or an election? Tim Walz, JD Vance fight over the 'Mountain Dew Belt' -Infinite Edge Capital
A soda sip-off or an election? Tim Walz, JD Vance fight over the 'Mountain Dew Belt'
View
Date:2025-04-17 01:46:03
Call it the bipartisan bubbly.
In a bitterly divisive election cycle, the Republican and Democratic tickets have united around a single issue. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' running mates JD Vance and Tim Walz are both fans of the same fizzy beverage.
Their swill of choice? Ice cold cans of the bright neon yellow, nose-tickling, super-citrusy, highly caffeinated Diet Mountain Dew, a popular cooler staple in backyards and on backroads.
Soft drinks often become associated with certain demographics, but Mountain Dew more than most. It has deep roots in rural America – what analysts call the “Mountain Dew Belt.”
"Mountain Dew" is old-timey Appalachian slang for moonshine. Its Tennessee creators Barney and Ally Hartman originally crafted Mountain Dew as a mixer for whiskey in the 1940s. Its slogan was: “Yahoo, Mountain Dew. It’ll Tickle Yore Innards!”
Mountain Dew was sold to PepsiCo in 1964 but never quite shook that hillbilly image. In the 1980s, it was marketed as “Dew It Country Cool.”
Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of Mountain Dew owner PepsiCo, told BuzzFeed News in 2015 that Mountain Dew is "an attitude. It's a fantastic attitude in a bottle."
Now that Walz and Vance have added Diet Dew to their political bonafides, the nation's fifth-most-popular soda is having a moment.
And, as the old slogan goes, don’t underestimate the power of Dew, especially in an election year. Walz and Vance are sending a clear message to voters: This is not the La Croix-and-latte crowd.
Kamala Harris picked Minnesota’s governor as her running mate on Tuesday, catapulting the outspoken Midwestern statesman into the national spotlight, from his close ties to organized labor to his dog Scout.
Soon, his tonic of choice was the talk of social media. Walz was pulled over in 1995 for going 96 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone after watching college football with friends. He failed a sobriety test and a breath test and pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
Diet Mountain Dew lifted his spirits after he quit drinking. He once joked he would happily guzzle a 52-ounce can of the stuff for breakfast.
“At times, it seems to fuel Walz's dizzying conversational style, as he moves from education policy to football, words tumbling out like coins from a slot machine,” the Star Tribune wrote in 2018.
Diet Mountain Dew is Vance's fave, too. In fact, he has made headlines for hyping the Dew on the campaign trail.
“This is the good stuff here,” Vance said during an appearance on the conservative broadcast network Newscast. “High caffeine, low calorie.”
At a recent campaign rally, he joked that Democrats would probably say he was racist for his Diet Dew habit. “I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today, and I’m sure they’re going to call that racist too,” he said, adding, “But it’s good.”
The Harris campaign posted an edited video of Vance's viral remarks about Diet Mountain Dew and racism, with the caption "It's getting weird...".
After criticizing Vance for “weird” comments about Diet Mountain Dew, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said to CNN: "Who drinks Diet Mountain Dew?" Then he apologized…to Diet Mountain Dew.
“Folks, I’ve been a person that when sometimes I’ve gone over the line, I’ve wanted to make sure that I set the record straight, so, I do owe an apology to Diet Mountain Dew,” Beshear, also a Harris VP contender, said at a press conference. “So if you enjoy Diet Mountain Dew, you be you, we wanna support you.”
veryGood! (3971)
Related
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Save 45% On the Cult Favorite Philosophy 3-In-1 Shampoo, Shower Gel, and Bubble Bath
- Warming Trends: A Comedy With Solar Themes, a Greener Cryptocurrency and the Underestimated Climate Supermajority
- New Faces on a Vital National Commission Could Help Speed a Clean Energy Transition
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Biden says debt ceiling deal 'very close.' Here's why it remains elusive
- Kylie Jenner’s Recent Photos of Son Aire Are So Adorable They’ll Blow You Away
- Inside Clean Energy: Explaining the Record-Breaking Offshore Wind Sale
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Text scams, crypto crackdown, and an economist to remember
Ranking
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- Ashley Benson Is Engaged to Oil Heir Brandon Davis: See Her Ring
- Q&A: How White Flight and Environmental Injustice Led to the Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis
- Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann Call Off Divorce 2 Months After Filing
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- YouTubers Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams Expecting Twins Via Surrogate
- A troubling cold spot in the hot jobs report
- Unions are relieved as the Supreme Court leaves the right to strike intact
Recommendation
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
YouTubers Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams Expecting Twins Via Surrogate
The Art at COP27 Offered Opportunities to Move Beyond ‘Empty Words’
What cars are being discontinued? List of models that won't make it to 2024
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
In California, a Race to Save the World’s Largest Trees From Megafires
Teen Mom’s Kailyn Lowry Confirms She Privately Welcomed Baby No. 5
One mom takes on YouTube over deadly social media blackout challenge