From an empty parking lot behind the abandoned Third Precinct police station in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, the top Republican in Congress laid out his case for why American voters should be motivated this November to send Donald Trump back to the White House.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., was also in town to help fundraise for Joe Teirab, calling him an “all star” congressional candidate who will help Republicans retain their majority in the U.S. House. Teirab, a former federal prosecutor and military veteran, is vying to unseat three-term incumbent Angie Craig in Minnesota’s Second Congressional District.
Johnson said he believes Teirab’s bonafides and “excellent” campaign so far will help him “defeat Angie Craig handily.”
But most of Johnson’s words at the press conference he held in south Minneapolis were reserved for a rhetorical indictment against the records of Tim Walz and Kamala Harris on crime, illegal immigration and their actions during and following the Minneapolis riots four years ago.
“As speaker of the House, I have now traveled to 191 cities across 39 states so far doing campaign events for our candidates and incumbents. It doesn’t matter where we go, people are absolutely fed up with the way things are,” said Johnson, who was also joined by two of his congressional colleagues from Minnesota, Pete Stauber and Michelle Fischbach.
“And one thing is absolutely clear—Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are too extreme for America,” Johnson said. “Their records here in Minneapolis and the White House have shown us all the proof we need.”
Johnson pointed to Walz’s handling of the 2020 riots in Minneapolis, and his policies on crime and illegal immigration as Minnesota governor that he said pairs well with his presidential running mate, Kamala Harris. Harris famously took to social media during the riots to ask people to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund to help fund bail for those arrested.
“The building behind me stands as one enduring symbol of [Harris and Walz’s] destructive records,” Johnson said, as he rattled off now well-known damage totals from the May 2020 riots. More than 1,500 buildings, including the Third Precinct, were damaged or destroyed by arson and vandalism, causing an estimated $500 million in damage.
“While Tim Walz let Minneapolis burn, it was (then vice presidential candidate) Kamala Harris who poured gasoline on the flames by helping to bail out those who held the matches,” Johnson said. “Five days after the riots began and there were millions of dollars in damages, Kamala Harris helped raise money, not for the people whose businesses were being destroyed or the livelihoods ruined, but for the criminals who destroyed them.”
Congresswoman Fischbach, who represents Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District, said the actions of Walz and Harris during and following the riots in Minneapolis “show what a Harris-Walz administration would do. They will let law enforcement down. They will disrespect law enforcement, they will let the people of our country down.”
Teirab, who has helped prosecute some of the Twin Cities’ most violent gang members arrested for a string of violent crimes and drug trafficking dating back to 2020, said he believes voters in his district are tired of the “soft-on-crime” policies held by Walz, Harris and Craig, his Democratic opponent this fall.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and the people that enable them, like my opponent Angie Craig, who’s a lockstep for the failed Biden-Harris agenda, that’s what’s caused this mess; they’ve created a power vacuum. We need to end that,” he said.
Speaker criticizes Walz’s record on illegal immigration, past connection to China
Speaker Johnson also took time to answer reporters’ questions about whether he supports congressional hearings on Walz’s past connections to China and whether the American people know the Minnesota governor has signed a trio of bills into law that serve as a magnet for illegal immigrants to settle in the state.
Last week the chair of the Republican-controlled U.S. House Oversight Committee announced he would launch an investigation into Walz’s numerous trips to China prior to his election to Congress in 2006.
“China is our greatest national security threat, next to the national debt, and we have to take it very seriously,” Johnson said. “And the allegations that have been made against Tim Walz are quite serious.”
“On the surface he seems to have quite a bit of connections to China; he’s certainly traveled there a lot. He seems to really aspire to their policies; and that Marxist, socialist ideology is something I think is really going to alarm the American people when they understand what it really means and what his connection is.”
On Walz’s signing into law over the last two years legislation that allows illegal immigrants living in Minnesota to obtain driver’s licenses, public health insurance and free college tuition, Johnson said that should alarm voters across the nation.
“One of the things we are very alarmed about is Tim Walz not only supports the wide open border obviously by his actions and his statements, but also by his policies and his practices. He has created this state as a magnet (for illegal immigration). He has offered benefits to seemingly invite illegals to come into this state.”
“And I think the people of this state are quite frustrated by it,” Johnson continued. “I know they are all around this country; we say that every state is a border state now and its certainly true.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
