The first person to ever face off against Tim Walz in an election spoke to Alpha News about the experience of running against the now-governor of Minnesota and Democratic nominee for vice president of the United States.
“Had we known then what we know about [Walz’s] past now, he never would have been elected to Congress,” said former Congressman Gil Gutknecht.
Gutknecht, a Republican, served in Congress from 1995 to 2007. Swept to office as a part of the “Republican Revolution” in 1994, Gutknecht represented southern Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his service in the U.S. House, Gutknecht was a member of the Minnesota House of Representative for 12 years.
Gutknecht won his first campaign for Congress by roughly 11 points in a year that saw Republicans win the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in 40 years. In his succeeding five congressional elections, the southern Minnesota lawmaker won reelection with margins of victory ranging from 5 points to 27 points. In 2004, Gutknecht won by nearly 25 points.
However, the following election would spell disaster for Republicans across the country.
By 2006, the United States had been at war both in Afghanistan and Iraq for several years. The war in Iraq had become particularly unpopular, and incumbent Republican President George W. Bush’s national approval ratings were underwater. At the time, Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and presidency.
As such, many viewed the 2006 elections as a chance to reject the unpopular GOP government. Among the Democrats seeking to send a message was a political unknown from Minnesota named Tim Walz.
Running to unseat Congressman Gutknecht, Walz mounted his first campaign for public office.
“[Walz] ran as a veteran, a football coach, a good buy back then … a moderate,” said Gutknecht.
In political ads from that campaign, Walz talked about how he lived his life “trying to do right by my family and my neighbors.” One notable ad contained a story in which Walz described hearing his daughter sing for the first time after he received surgery for a hearing issue that developed as a result of his National Guard service.
However, investigative reporting has since revealed that the Walz campaign lied about various facts of the candidate’s life.
Throughout the 2006 campaign, Walz referred to himself as a “retired command sergeant major.” Many years later, Alpha News discovered that Walz was never a “retired command sergeant major” despite his use of the title during the 2006 campaign and beyond.
Additionally, the 2006 Walz campaign lied about the details of their candidate’s 1995 drunk driving arrest in Nebraska. Discussing the September 1995 arrest, the campaign said Walz was not drunk at the time, he was allowed to drive his car to the police station, and the arrest was a misunderstanding resulting from a hearing problem Walz had.
In 2022, Alpha News obtained court documents which said Walz was pulled over for going 96 mph in a 55-mph zone. A court transcript indicated that Walz’s blood-alcohol level was discovered to be .128, over Nebraska’s then-legal limit of 0.1.
“All candidates engage in a bit of puffery,” said Gutknecht. “But it’s clear now that [Walz] frequently wandered away from puffery into prevarication.”
Near the end of the campaign, Gutknecht said a significant amount of untraceable money flooded the race.
“Our polling in mid-October showed the race was going to be close, but I had a 56% approval rating so we felt we would pull it out,” said Gutknecht. “Then, a bunch of money poured in that we couldn’t trace.”
The avalanche of outside money, which is not an uncommon occurrence in congressional elections, proved to be fatal for the Gutknecht campaign.
“They bought up so much TV time they were even buying time on the Saturday morning cartoon shows,” said Gutknecht.
In the end, Walz beat Gutknecht by a little more than 5 points. Walz’s election was a part of a national Democratic wave that saw Democrats win a majority in the U.S. House for the first time since 1992. The 2006 elections also gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate.
Congressman Walz went on to win five more elections to the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018. After being reelected as the governor in 2022, Walz was eventually selected as the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Regarding Harris’ selection of Walz as her running mate, Gutknecht said, “Her first decision was her worst decision.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
