Tim Walz Brings Folksy Demeanor, Liberal Record to Harris VP Shortlist - WSJ

Some Minnesotans figured they were getting a moderate Democrat—an increasingly rare species—when they elected Tim Walz governor in 2018. He had grown up in small-town Nebraska, enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17, was elected to Congress from one of the state’s more conservative districts and once earned the National Rifle Association’s endorsement.

But Walz, now on Kamala Harris’s shortlist for the vice-presidential slot, has governed more to the left than expected. He supported universal free school meals for students, voting rights for the formerly incarcerated, driver’s licenses for migrants who crossed the border illegally, and recreational marijuana, and he signed a law that made abortion a “fundamental right.”

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Known for his folksy dress and manner, Walz likely would help Harris the most in battleground Wisconsin because he is already well-known in western portions of that state that share media markets with Minnesota. He might also play well in battleground Michigan—one-third of the “blue wall,” along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, seen as crucial to Harris’s hopes in November.

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More concerning, Gazelka said, was how Walz in his view was slow to call out the Minnesota National Guard to address rioting that started after the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in 2020...City and state officials have blamed each other for the response. After-action assessments found a breakdown in communication between government officials, the Star Tribune newspaper in Minnesota has reported.

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Minnesota became something of a laboratory in 2023 for many of the Democratic Party’s policy goals, once Walz had a legislature fully controlled by Democrats. Besides establishing the goal of a carbon-free electrical grid by 2040, the state also passed paid family and medical leave, sick leave, transgender-rights protections, a tax credit aimed at low-income parents, and a $1 billion investment in affordable housing. “If you need a reminder that elections have consequences, check out what’s happening in Minnesota,” former President Barack Obama wrote on social media last year.

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