UPDATE (Aug. 6, 2024, 9:17 a.m. ET): On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz to be her 2024 running mate.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz thinks the leaders of the modern Republican Party — especially but not exclusively former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — are extremely “weird.” He has been saying so for months, but ever since Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, he has become one of her most effective messengers, doing the dirty work of attacking the Republicans so Harris can focus on a positive message — “Freedom.”
It has become easy to imagine Walz as the next Democratic nominee for vice president, one of a handful of politicians who have emerged as front-runners for the honor. If it happens, I’ll be thrilled. I’m a Minnesotan and have watched Walz since he started running for governor in the 2018 election. Before that, he was just a “downstate” congressman and not so much on my radar.
When he has had the opportunity, he has done everything he can to make Minnesota a better place for everyone.
But much to my surprise, I’ve become fully “Walz-pilled,” not so much because of the viral clips, but because when he has had the opportunity, he has done everything he can to make Minnesota a better place for everyone.
Frankly, I’m surprised at my own enthusiasm, because I wasn’t a Walz supporter when he ran for governor in 2018. This is inside baseball for Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor politics (not technically the Democratic Party), but Walz came into the race as the more electable, more conservative major candidate for governor. He seemed fine but boring, and it felt like in the coming blue wave anti-Trump election cycle, Minnesota could do better.
So I backed his rival, Erin Murphy, and she lost. I was disappointed but naturally voted for Walz in the general election and was happy enough that he won.
But I thought Walz would be a brake on progress, seeking the kind of consensus across the middle that just isn’t possible these days thanks to the devolution of the Republicans. And the Minnesota GOP seemed especially devolved, nominating far-right ideologues instead of trying to compete in a purple state.
Turns out I was wrong.
Walz’s first term was fine, marked by generally solid health-related leadership during Covid and some questionable decisions during the 2020 George Floyd uprising, but it was last year that everything changed.
In the 2022 elections, Democrats won a trifecta, taking full control of state government, but with a Senate majority of only one seat. DFL leaders never hesitated, taking advantage of a large budget surplus to quickly enact a wide range of progressive policies across the board that changed our state for the better.
They made Minnesota a safe haven for the trans community. They affirmed abortion as a fundamental right and removed restrictions that limited access. They legalized recreational cannabis use and passed laws for driver’s licenses for all Minnesotans regardless of immigration status, automatic voter registration, paid family and medical leave, tax rebates for people making less than $75,000 and new climate goals, and they phased out parental fees for families with kids on Medicaid. This last one is perhaps narrower than the others, but my son has Down syndrome and is on Medicaid, so I sure paid close attention to this.
Sure, Republicans howled about the lack of bipartisanship, but that’s one of the lessons. Do one progressive act or do 50, the howl will be the same.
Tim Walz was just one of the Democratic leaders behind the unprecedented sweep of legislation, and arguably not even the most important. House leader Melissa Hortman and Senate leader Kari Dziedzic led the way, kept their caucuses united and got the bills to Walz’s desk. But he never hesitated and quickly became the public face of the movement, especially when he was signing bills for free lunch for all Minnesota school kids, no exceptions. Long before his name was mentioned in the veepstakes, he went viral for pictures of kids hugging him and then lining up for a high-five line as Walz clowned around in the classroom.
I’m less interested in the identity politics surrounding Walz, though I recognize that as a Midwestern white dad, a veteran, a former social studies teacher and football coach and a dad from a small rural town, he has a background very distinguishable from Harris’.
But there’s an advantage to this. He can argue, as he did on MSNBC, that the genuine problems facing small-town white Americans are the fault of plutocrats — the Trumps of the world, venture capitalists like JD Vance and their backers. Because the problem isn’t just that they are weird creeps, but that they’re genuinely making lives worse for more people.
Walz believes Democratic policies make lives better. At the end of the 2023 legislative session, Walz gave the memorable quote “Minnesota is showing the country you don’t win elections to bank political capital — you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”
When I heard that, I became entirely Walz-pilled, delighted to be led by a politician drawing from the best Minnesota traditions of “happy warriors” like former Democratic Sens. Hubert H. Humphrey (also a former vice president) and Paul Wellstone.
I’m willing to share him with the nation. Too often, including in January 2021, Democrats have held power in Washington and acted too cautiously rather than risen to the moment. The Minnesota model shows there’s another way.
Sure, Republicans howled about the lack of bipartisanship, but that’s one of the lessons. Do one progressive act or do 50, the howl will be the same. And if you help enough people, voters will reward you. There’s some Midwestern dad energy that the nation sorely needs.
Kamala Harris must soon pick a running mate — one of the first major decisions of her 2024 presidential campaign. As part of our series on some of the top contenders, read the case for Andy Beshear here, the case for Josh Shapiro here and the case for Mark Kelly here.
