He signed a bill that provides free breakfast and lunches for Minnesota public schoolchildren. An advocate for fighting climate change, he took a page from the Republican playbook and championed legislation to reduce government red tape for renewable energy projects. On his watch, abortion rights, a critical issue for Democrats, were enshrined in state law. An NRA darling in Congress (he’s a lifelong hunter), Walz as governor supported expanded background checks and red flag laws. They are also now the law in Minnesota. Plus paid parental and medical leave. Plus a ban on non-compete agreements (giving workers the ability to easily switch jobs). Plus bills to strengthen worker safety.
Call me crazy, but I think a lot of voters will find this “progressive,” “extremist,” “socialist” agenda attractive.
There are other things they’re likely to find attractive in the presumptive Democratic vice-presidential nominee. His Republican counterpart, J.D. Vance, exploited his rural roots to write a best-selling book after graduating from Yale Law School. Walz, a proud graduate of Chadron State College in Nebraska, has exploited his rural roots to, you know, connect with rural Americans like himself. In 2016, Trump took his conservative district by 15 points—but Walz still won reelection to Congress. In both of his gubernatorial races, he has breezed to victory.
The political prognosticators will chew on whether or not he can help Kamala Harris win key Midwestern states like Wisconsin and Michigan. I have no idea. To my mind, what matters more is that he has a plainspoken way of laying out the issues people care about. The Democratic Party has been tagged—not wrongly—as a party of elites. Tim Walz is not that kind of Democrat. He avoids the whole “save democracy” thing in favor of talking about things that affect people’s day-to-day lives.
“Look,” he told New York Times columnist Ezra Klein a few days ago, “Kamala Harris is talking about making sure you have expanded healthcare, making sure there’s daycare available, making sure that it’s easier to get free school lunches.”
Last night, when he was introduced as Harris’s vice-presidential nominee, he showed another side, a funny, feisty side. After talking about the fact that crime had risen during Trump’s presidency, he added, “That’s not even counting the crimes he committed!” The crowd roared. A little later, he said he couldn’t wait to debate Vance, assuming, that is, “he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” More roars. Standing behind him, laughing at his jokes, applauding at his promises to the country, Harris appeared to be very happy with the choice she had made.
And of course, there’s one other thing. Tim Walz, a balding former teacher and football coach, is definitely not weird.
For a different view on this subject, read Batya Ungar-Sargon’s America Is Ready for a Jewish Veep: The Democrats Aren’t
Joe Nocera is a columnist for The Free Press and the co-author of The Big Fail. Follow him on X @opinion_joe, and read his piece, “Mind the Gap.”
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The writer here seems to think that a few nice memes is all that is needed for him to not be seen as a radical neo-socialist. School lunches for children is great, but it has nothing to do with being a leader of the free world. Furthermore, it's not only important what political leaders do, but why and how. Minnesota taxes make New Jersey blush. He took the pandemic relief funds and rather than distributed it broadly, he spent it on progressive causes and then raised taxes again. He has been driving an exodus of business and upper-middle income people while having the lowest job growth in the Midwest and close to the worst in the country. He is forcing the EV transition and "net zero" by 2040, an impossibility especially in the Midwest. And of course there are not small matters like standing by while his cities burned and supporting the rioters, a perfect match for Harris who created a bail fund for them. He is also a good pal with the major Iman in MN who just also happens to yells about genocidal Israel and recommends a documentary praising Hitler that is popular with terrorists (I'm not making this up). Lest I forget, he is also all in on the gender-transitioning of minor children, which most Americans find disgusting.
Whatever he may have been or done before his political career, it is clear he read the MN Somali tea leaves and turned hard-left to get elected and grow power. He is a copy of Harris, in a campaign doing all it can to conceal what these folks are really about. Both are a perfect fit for San Francisco (my hometown) politics, the most Left-wing in the country.
I don't want partisan hit pieces on the FP, from either side. But I expect Bari's crew to get past campaign slogans and do some actual reporting. This piece was depressing because it indicates that people are looking for national feel-good parents, not serious leaders, in an extremely dangerous time. And, because it was a waste of my time.
A not trival number of pieces on The FP have been very lightweight and even immature. That's not what subscribers are here for.
And the mostly peaceful rush to define Walz as a moderate begins.