Walz isn’t who he or mainstream media say he is

OPINION:

Shortly after word leaked that Vice President Kamala Harris had chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Rep. Nancy Pelosi popped up on MSNBC.

“Tim Walz, I know very well. He served in the House,” the former House speaker said. “To characterize him as left is so unreal. He’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland-of-America Democrat,” she added.

But things have changed. While Mr. Walz might have fallen into the “moderate” ranks in the House — he supported gun rights, Israel and the Keystone XL pipeline when he represented a conservative district — he has moved far left as governor of a state with just 5.7 million people — a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican for president in 52 years.

As governor, Mr. Walz has won praise from liberals for his strong support of unions, for expanding abortion rights in the state constitution, for enacting universal free meals for students regardless of income and for making the state a refuge for children seeking transgender medical procedures.

Ms. Harris’ pick prompted former President Donald Trump’s advisers to fire a salvo that will no doubt become a mainstay for the remainder of the campaign.

“Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” said Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman. “If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: Just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”

In a quick aside, the pick of Mr. Walz seemingly gets Ms. Harris nothing. She had toyed with picking two other governors, from crucial Pennsylvania and purple North Carolina, which, had she done so, could have locked down those states. She also considered Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former astronaut, which could have swung that swing state her way.

But Minnesotans are hardcore liberal. The last time they voted for a Republican presidential candidate was 1972 — which means they voted for President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale (a fellow Minnesotan), Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, Vice President Al Gore, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. All super liberal — and except for one guy, all losers.

So why pick him? Simple. The Democratic Party thinks it can win by going hard left. Democrats think their big-government vision — which wins them votes in most of America’s biggest cities — is ready for prime time and will sell across what many of the party’s elites call the “flyover” states.

While the push is now on to sell Mr. Walz’s desirables — he’s a former teacher and kids’ sports coach who served in the National Guard — the attempt to whitewash his record as a liberal governor of a liberal state will be a hard sell across America.

Every day until Election Day, Mr. Trump will deluge voters about the Minnesota governor’s response to the worst race riots to hit the U.S. since the 1960s. Mr. Walz delayed deploying the National Guard when riots engulfed the Twin Cities after George Floyd was killed and rejected offers of federal military assistance to combat Black Lives Matter demonstrators. He later acknowledged his initial response to the riots had been an “abject failure.”

Don’t forget that debacle led to the “defund the police” movement that hit a slew of Democratic-run cities, many of which have abandoned that silly notion.

Then there was the “Feeding Our Future” scandal. Federal prosecutors charged 70 people in Minnesota with defrauding federal food programs out of $250 million on Mr. Walz’s watch.

“The Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan watchdog, delivered a scathing report in June that said Walz’s Department of Education ’failed to act on warning signs,’ did not effectively exercise its authority and was ill-prepared to respond,” Fox News reported.

Conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk blasted the pick in an X post, noting that like the Biden-Harris administration, Mr. Walz is soft on the border. “On immigration, you famously said you wanted to provide a ’ladder’ so invaders can come over Trump’s wall. You are a radical open border zealot,” he wrote.

What’s more, Minnesota has the most radical abortion laws in the country. In 2021, five babies were “born alive” in 2021 during failed abortions, and none was provided lifesaving care. Three other infants were “born alive” during abortions in 2019, Mr. Walz’s first year as governor, and they were also left to die.

So try as they might, the mainstream media’s effort to paint Mr. Walz as a heartland-of-America will be a hard sell. Unless, of course, that brand of Democrat just lets babies born alive die.

• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on X @josephcurl.