Tim Walz has risen from a relative unknown to Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate at an almost dizzying pace due to his consistently progressive record as Minnesota’s governor and plain-spoken attacks on Republicans.
The GOP is calling him a “radical” governor, based in part on initiatives such as giving driver’s licenses to immigrants without documentation, raising a variety of state taxes and forging an ambitious climate-change agenda.
The national political stock of Mr. Walz, 60, rose this summer after he cemented Ms. Harris’ line of attack against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump by succinctly declaring him “weird.”
The description captured the internet’s attention, and the Harris presidential campaign immediately adopted it as a rallying cry. It also thrust Mr. Walz onto the national scene.
Just hours before Ms. Harris selected Mr. Walz on Tuesday to be her running mate on the Democratic ticket, an NPR poll found that 71% of voters had either never heard of him or were unsure how to rate him. Only 29% had an opinion of Mr. Walz, with 17% viewing him favorably and 12% viewing him unfavorably.
Mr. Walz has served as governor since 2019, after 12 years of representing a heavily conservative rural district in Congress. Unlike his tenure as governor, he was a relative centrist during his time in the House, receiving high marks from the National Rifle Association and frequently being ranked among the most bipartisan members of Congress.
But since arriving in the governor’s mansion, Mr. Walz has moved far to the left. He has signed bills tightening gun restrictions, legalizing recreational marijuana, expanding abortion care and placing new taxes on corporations operating within the state.
Ms. Harris is hoping the mix of working-class appeal and progressive track record will both shore up her base and appeal to independents across the Midwest battleground states.
A Nebraska native, Mr. Walz joined the Army National Guard when he was 17 and served for more than two decades with domestic and overseas deployments. He was also a high school social studies teacher and football coach in Mankato, Minnesota, about 80 miles south of Minneapolis.
During his time as a high school teacher, Mr. Walz was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999, long before Democrats nationally supported gay rights. He and wife, Gwen Walz, have two children.
In 2006, he was elected to Congress from a largely agricultural district in southern Minnesota. He left Congress in 2018 after his successful run for governor.
While in Congress, he developed a reputation for crossing the aisle — more than half of the bills he co-sponsored were introduced by Republicans.
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Mr. Walz is a rare gun-owning Democrat who has spoken about his love of hunting in his campaign speeches. While in Congress, he was a darling of the NRA which endorsed him and donated to his campaigns.
In 2016, Guns & Ammo magazine included him on its list of top 20 politicians for gun owners.
However, after the February 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, Mr. Walz began championing tighter firearm restrictions. He has spoken out in favor of an assault weapons ban.
As Minnesota’s governor, he signed into law several gun control measures, including one increasing penalties for someone acquiring a weapon on behalf of someone who is not eligible to own a firearm.
The policy reversal has earned him scorn from pro-gun groups, including the NRA, which downgraded his rating to an “F.”
His accomplishments as governor reflected a more liberal outlook than his time in the House. Most of his social agenda has been funded through tax increases.
Since becoming governor, Mr. Walz signed legislation giving immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally access to state-funded health care, free college tuition and driver’s licenses. This stance again contrasts his position in the House, where he voted for stricter screening of immigrants.
In defending his immigration policies, Mr. Walz said Congress has not authorized local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws, adding that he “strongly” believes they should not do so.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Mr. Walz was the first governor to enshrine abortion protections in state law. He also has taken executive action to protect gender-affirming care, vowing to make Minnesota a safe haven for transgender care.
He also enacted paid family leave, a policy the Democrats have been seeking to adopt at the national level, funding the program through a 0.7% tax payroll tax on employees.
And he signed legislation that bans medical providers from withholding necessary care due to unpaid debts, and prohibits medical debt from impacting credit scores.
He also raised taxes on multinational corporations operating within Minnesota and used the funds to offset cutting taxes for Social Security recipients in the state, as well as adopt a fully refundable child tax credit.
He also raised sales taxes to support rental assistance programs and expand the state’s housing supply.
Last year, Mr. Walz signed a bill making it easier for people with felony convictions to vote in Minnesota once they leave prison. The bill allowed at least 55,000 people to vote.
Mr. Walz also signed several climate bills as governor, including laws mandating 100% clean energy in Minnesota by 2040, boosting electric vehicle sales and banning forever chemicals.
During his tenure, Minnesota passed a law to cut carbon from the natural gas sector by using taxpayer dollars to fund projects that would reduce emissions.
Mr. Walz also legalized marijuana in the state and approved legislation to broadly decriminalize drug paraphernalia, allow safe consumption sites and create a psychedelics task force.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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