Tim Walz, the Minnesota State Senator, Tapes Her Minnesota Gov. Tim Murphy to Lead the Votes at the Minnesota House of Representatives
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, who Walz defeated in the primary for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination, worked with him to usher in progressive policy wins at the Capitol.
The government under Walz was divided between Democrats and Republicans in his first term. The budget that he worked on in the year 2019-2020 included victories for both sides, with spending boosted for schools and a tax cut.
“We found compromises that worked well for the state of Minnesota.” He agreed to the tax cuts I was pushing and to fund the education at a higher level than I thought we should.
The schools were ordered to be emptied due to the spread of the virus. Later, he ordered restaurants and houses of worship shut their doors and Minnesotans stay home and required that face masks be worn in public places.
The restrictions that were originally intended to be brief had to be extended as some became frustrated with their limited lives.
Source: Harris taps Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate
Tim Walz Taps George Floyd: Minnesota’s Greatest Crime in the Last 48 Hours: Planning for 2019 with a Giant National Guard Infantry
Minnesota faced another crisis in May of 2020. George Floyd was the victim of a world-famous incident in which a Minneapolis Police officer knelt on his neck to ask for help. The riots broke out around the city after Floyd died.
Walz called in thousands of National Guard soldiers and state troopers to police the Twin Cities, but not quickly enough to prevent the burning of a police precinct and looting of several businesses.
While the riots were going on, the congressman refused to have it distract the attention of the state.
Walz and Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey publicly disagreed over who should have taken charge. Gazelka, the former Senate majority leader, said the governor acted too late.
The woman said that she felt like he froze. “And that delayed getting the National Guard out three days beyond what Mayor Frey had requested. And that’s just unacceptable to not be able to handle the crisis in a way that I think it should have been handled.”
Trump took credit for sending the soldiers in after he talked with the Walz administration, and the call-up is part of the presidential race.
In their first year with a government trifecta, Democrats checked off every item on their wish list: free breakfast and lunch for students, legal protections for abortion and those seeking gender-affirming care, new clean energy mandates for utility companies, restrictions on guns, legalized marijuana, restoration of voter rights to the formerly incarcerated and paid family and medical leave benefits for workers.
Source: Harris taps Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate
Tim Walz: A Magnet for Minnesota Teachers, and How to Keep a Girl From Down Under the Coverage of Senator Kamala Harris
Education Minnesota President Denise Specht, who leads the state’s largest teachers’ union, said Walz hasn’t forgotten his teaching roots while in office.
“He’s been a great governor to work with, you know, his record for investing in public education. Everything that he’s done to improve working lives for working families, protecting collective bargaining ,” Specht said. “He has a great track record that I think would resonate across this country.”
Walz’s policy wins helped launch the governor’s national profile. He was the co-chairman of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee.
He joked that he was a “monster” for supporting efforts to fund school lunches and guarantee legal protections for those seeking abortions, even though he said that the raft of Minnesota policy changes would make him too progressive a candidate.
In the years that followed the exchange with the security guard, Walz said the individual said he was not going to be allowed to enter. It was a combination of being frustrated and realizing how it felt to be looked at right through.
A group of students went to a George W. Bush campaign rally after the congressman took him to one. Some people wearing stickers supporting John Kerry were asked to leave.
He earned a social science degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska in 1989 funded by the GI Bill, then spent a year teaching in China through a Harvard University exchange program before returning to teach students in his home state. He met his wife while teaching. The pair taught and coached at a high school in Minnesota, as well as coaching football for the state champion team.
At the age of 17, he enlisted in the Army National Guard. He frequently points to his upbringing in a small community, noting that several of his cousins were classmates.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Tim Walz, the second-term Minnesota governor with a folksy demeanor, gained a spot on the Democratic ticket as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential choice, two sources close to the campaign tell NPR.
After Biden ended his reelection bid and Democrats coalesced around Harris, the contest was a much more competitive one.
Tim Walz: From Cool to Weird: A State Senator in Minnesota to the Midwestern Mean, a Story about a Father and a Teacher
And he talked about being a high school teacher and a football coach. One of his former football players was on CNN after the speech, talking about how Walz helped him and was a father figure, as he was raised by a single mom.
But the 60-year-old governor could also face questions about his response to riots in Minneapolis following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and widespread fraud during COVID-19 under a federal program intended to feed kids. Audits have suggested lapses in oversight by the state Department of Education.
In recent interviews, Walz said that the Democrats would expand reproductive health and voting rights if they were elected.
If he can win over Midwestern swing voters, he could help win over voters in Minnesota, which is a swing state.
Since Harris took over, the 60-year-old father of two has become more popular with Harris supporters because of the Midwestern dad humor.
One X user wrote, “Tried to explain to people that Tim Walz’s got the Midwestern Nice thing down, but it’s the Midwestern Mean they should be looking out for.” “Middle-aged dudes from the Midwest can cut you with a ‘You really let me down’ or ‘You’re acting like a Class-A moron.’ “
Walz’s television appearances are widely credited with helping launch using “weird” to describe former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance — a term that has stuck within Democratic circles and proven to be an accessible talking point for Harris supporters.
“It’s a helpful tactic to build upon the newly emerging interest and engagement of younger voters since Harris took over the top of the ticket,” said Democratic strategist and media consultant Bud Jackson.
An observation by Donald J. Vance, aka “Crazy guys” during a 2016 campaign to block a second Donald Trump presidency
During his first campaign address on Tuesday, the term was used, though he stressed it was only about the top of the ticket. Hillary Clinton’s campaign had a hard time in 2016 after she referred to half of Trump’s supporters as a group of “crass people”.
He told the crowd that he made an observation. “I just have to say it: You know it, you feel it — these guys are creepy and, yes, weird as hell.”
After Vice President Harris took the stage in Philadelphia for the first time with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, it was time for Vance to hold a press conference, blasting his opponents and calling for a second Donald Trump presidency.
In Philadelphia, he said that normal people stand to benefit the most from Donald J. Trump being elected president of the United States.
After President Biden’s abysmal debate performance, Trump enjoyed a sizable polling lead against Biden, which was later strengthened by the Republican National Convention. Trump’s selection of the Ohio U.S. senator to join the ticket signaled confidence in the race.
In early appearances after accepting the nomination, Vance struggled with some attack lines against Harris, went viral for joking that Democrats would call drinking Diet Mountain Dew racist, and came under fire for prior comments in which he derided Democratic women without children as “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.” Democrats have pounded away at Vance for his views and comments.
Vance was sharpening his stump speech and has taken a leading role in attacking Harris and Walz, which is likely to help him in the long run.
His events have focused in particular on tying Harris to the Biden administration’s record on immigration and border security, and have featured comments from local residents who blame Democratic policies for worsening crime, opioid addiction and other issues.
Democrats claim to have cleaned the streets, but it has not worked, according to a Philadelphia woman. “The border crisis has led to an influx of drugs coming across the border and impacting families like mine throughout the city.”
Tim Walz, a black man, or Tim Vance, bends the knee to the far-left of the Democrat Party?
In Michigan Wednesday, Vance expanded his criticism to Walz, who was a more moderate Democrat during his time in Congress but as governor of Minnesota has embraced more progressive policies.
“This is a radical human being who comes from the far-left wing of the Democrat Party,” Vance said in Shelby Township, Mich. “And what Kamala Harris is telling all of us by selecting Tim Walz is that she bends the knee to the far left of the Democrat Party.”
The early days of campaigning attempt to set the tone for the next three months as neither of them are well known to the general electorate.
He’s a white guy. Harris is a black woman and part of his job is to testify to groups that might be skeptical of the person at the top of the ticket. When there isn’t a woman in the office, it may be the white guy’s job to assure other white guys.
“I was not bothered at all by what President Trump said,” said Vance, whose wife is Indian American. “And I didn’t take it as an attack on Kamala Harris’ biracial background at all. I believed that the attack on Kamala Harris was related to her being a colorblind person. She pretends to be one thing when she’s in front of one audience. She pretends to be different when she’s in front of a group of people.
Tim Walz Kamala Harris Philadelphia Campaign: What the heck is happening in Bozeman, Mont., when he decides he’s running?
Trump’s only scheduled campaign event this week is a rally in Bozeman, Mont., for U.S. Senate nominee Tim Sheehy in a competitive race that could help decide control of that chamber.
“Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires and then wrote a best seller trashing that community. Come on. That’s not what middle America is. I have to let you know. I can’t wait to debate the guy. That is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
He talked about growing up in a rural community where neighbors treat each other as if they’re not human, and not compromising his values.
Source: Takeaways from Tim Walz’s introduction to the national stage
When the VP was all about the balance, he went after Trump, Vance, and he brought home a golden rule: Bringing balance to the presidential ticket
He no doubt went after Trump and Vance, but a VP is also supposed to make the top of the ticket look better and bring balance. It’s certainly possible that Walz did that. He said, for example, Harris brings “joy,” but he’s the one known for being joyful. He is giving that to her by proxy.
Some of us remember when Republicans were talking about freedom. It turns out they really meant that the government should be allowed to invade your doctor’s office. Our neighbors make their own decisions, and we respect that. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule, ‘Mind your own damn business.’ ”
“I see you down there. I see those old, white guys,” he said, jokingly pointing to others in the front rows before delivering a pretty progressive message:
Source: Takeaways from Tim Walz’s introduction to the national stage
Walz ain’t from San Francisco, but he is! Harris-Walz tickets are the only way for the elephant in the room
Walz ain’t from San Francisco. He made that clear Tuesday night. He hit on what could possibly be considered the elephant in the room in an off-the-cuff comment.
Harris was not familiar with Minnesota’s governor and former congressman before this process. But his speech with Harris in Philadelphia Tuesday introducing the Harris-Walz ticket to the country made his appeal clear.