Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman went on a New York radio show yesterday and lambasted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s record. Yesterday, Gov. Walz was chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
“[Walz] is gonna try to sell himself like ‘Scranton Joe’ okay?” Coleman told the radio host. “This is Bolshevik. This is the most far-left, radical ticket this country has ever seen,” Coleman said of the new Harris-Walz ticket.
The former St. Paul mayor denounced Walz’s handling of the 2020 Minneapolis riots, saying “Walz was asleep at the wheel, he was AWOL during the George Floyd riots. He let Minneapolis burn.”
Continuing to attack Walz’s record, Coleman said, “We had an $18 billion surplus in the State of Minnesota, [Walz] burnt through that. They increased the size of government 30%, they raised taxes across the board for everybody. They gave driver’s licenses to illegals, free tuition, healthcare benefits.”
“By the way, his best buddy is Ilhan Omar,” added Coleman
Saying he was “stunned” by how far left the Democrats decided to go in assembling their national ticket, Coleman said Walz was the choice of Bernie Sanders and Ilhan Omar.
Should Kamala Harris win the 2024 presidential election, Walz would resign the governorship and assume the vice presidency. If that happens, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become governor of Minnesota.
On his radio show appearance, Coleman warned that this situation would result in Minnesota being “governed by the most far-left governor in the history,” referring to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
Conversely, Tim Pawlenty went on Fox 9 and congratulated Walz on his selection as Harris’ running mate. The former Minnesota governor said he knows and likes Walz, but does not agree with Walz politically.
Pawlenty explained that Harris’ selection of Walz represented a “doubling down of sorta the so-called progressive, or democratic-social [sic] alliance agenda. I think [Walz] and Vice President Harris are aligned philosophically and politically.”
The former Minnesota governor described Walz as having a “Bernie Sanders in hunting gear vibe” and said Walz is personally energetic, friendly, folksy, interested in issues, and likes to campaign.
Pawlenty proceeded to provide political analysis regarding how the Trump campaign will use Walz’s record to launch political attacks. The former governor also provided analysis on how he believes the 2024 campaign will unfold. At one point, Pawlenty said the Harris-Walz ticket would be “pretty beatable if the Republicans had a better candidate.”
Pawlenty noted that he would not vote for the Harris-Walz ticket. While the former governor mentioned that he has voted for Donald Trump in the past, Pawlenty said, “I may end up supporting President Trump, we’ll see. I’m just not prepared to announce that or say that today.”
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.
