Minnesota’s governor Tim Walz became half of the “most radical, far-left ticket in the history” Tuesday when Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced the former teacher and national guardsman as her running mate.
Walz, 60, has pursued and backed several progressive policies that have animated both sides of the political aisle during his tenure as the North Star State’s leader — and was widely viewed as one of the most left-leaning VP candidates.
Here is a look at the Minnesotan’s progressive resume as governor.
Prior to winning the governorship in 2018, Walz expressed support for turning Minnesota into a sanctuary state, meaning he would support scaling back local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
“My position on Minnesota becoming a sanctuary state boils down to who has the responsibility for enforcing immigration laws,” Walz told CBS News in October 2018, a month before he was elected governor.
“Congress has not given local law enforcement that same authority. The role of law enforcement is to enforce state and local laws, not federal immigration laws, and I strongly believe that they should not do so,” he added.
Then, during his tenure as governor, Walz backed legislation that expanded benefits illegal immigrants in Minnesota could receive, such as state-funded health care assistance and driver’s licenses.
Shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Walz’s administration opened a hotline allowing individuals to snitch on those who were eschewing the state’s stringent lockdown rules.
That prompted scores of reports against everyday Minnesotans who were simply walking their dogs or doing rudimentary activities during the pandemic.
Walz’s use of emergency powers during the pandemic also outraged critics — including the institution of a mask mandate and business shutdowns.
Early on in his governorship, Republicans in the state Senate pushed for an education savings account — a voucher-like system in which state education funding would follow the student even if a parent selected a private school.
Walz, however, opposed the effort.
“It’s not the time to get into a lot of policy decisions,” Walz said at the time, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
“So, we are not going to defund our public schools at this time, when especially those hardest hit need them more than ever.”
In 2023, Walz signed the so-called “Trans Refuge” bill into law that restricted state agencies from complying with out-of-state subpoenas, arrest warrants and extradition requests for people who traverse to Minnesota from other states for “gender-affirming care.”
He also signed an executive order protecting “gender-affirming care” in Minnesota, including puberty blockers, surgeries and hormone therapy.
The order also called upon state agencies not to approve health insurance plans that didn’t cover gender-affirming operations.
The North Star State Democrat has undertaken a handful of initiatives aimed at tackling climate change.
In 2022, he unveiled Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework, featuring objectives such as increasing the number of electric vehicles on the road from 1% to 20% by 2030 and slashing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50% over eight years.
That plan also pushed for “100% carbon-free electricity” by 2040.
During his time in Congress, Walz managed to score an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. An avid hunter, Walz has boasted about his shooting skills.
However, his relationship with the NRA soon soured. Following the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017 in which 59 people were mowed down, Walz donated contributions he got from the NRA to a nonprofit backing the victims’ families.
Last year, Walz then signed a gun control package that featured universal background checks and a red flag policy that creates a process for law enforcement to take firearms away from individuals perceived at risk of harming themselves or others.
Conservatives lashed out at Walz over the riots that erupted in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020 — accusing him of being too soft in his response.
In particular, Walz faced intense scrutiny over his delay in deploying the Minnesota National Guard to help restore order on Twin City Streets.
“It was obvious to me that he froze under pressure, under a calamity, as people’s properties were being burned down,” State Senator Warren Limmer, a Republican who helped lead a committee that investigated the response to the unrest, said, according to the New York Times.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also publicly blamed Walz for the response to the chaos that unfolded.
Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann accused the governor of being “fearful of alienating his ‘progressive’ base” in an interview with Fox News.
Walz speaks Mandarin and has a history with China that critics have been quick to highlight. He spent one year fresh out of college, teaching in China as part of the WorldTeach program.
He later hailed that experience, saying, “No matter how long I live, I will never be treated that well again.”
In 2016, he did an interview with Agri-Pulse in which he suggested that the US and China should not have an adversarial relationship — before conceding he would like to see improvements from China on human rights issues, trade, and environmental policy.
“I’ve been there about 30 times,” he told the outlet at the time. “I don’t fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree.”
Walz is steadfastly pro-abortion rights. After the fall of Roe v. Wade, Walz signed legislation that codified abortion rights into state law.
The governor has also been outspoken about access to in vitro fertilization which his family used for two of his children.
Walz signed a bill in May of 2023 that made recreational marijuana use for adults legal and slapped a 10% tax on it.
A former high school teacher, Walz signed legislation last year that made Minnesota the fourth state to offer free school lunches and breakfasts to children in participating schools.
The plan is expected to cost the taxpayer an estimated $400 million over the first two years.
Walz also signed legislation to make college free for students who hail from families that make under $80,000 a year via the “North Star Promise” program.
Defenders of Walz, however, have spotlighted his somewhat moderate record in Congress. GovTrack ranked him as the 12th “most politically right” member of House Democrats in its 2018 report card.
The organization also ranked Harris as the most liberal member of the Senate in 2019 but later retracted that.
Over half of the bills he co-sponsored between 2015 and 2017 were not introduced by Democrats. Walz was also among the few Democrats who voted to hold former Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
Ironically, Holder and his law firm were reportedly consulted to help Harris with the vetting process.
