With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket Tuesday, many familiar issues and controversies on his record are getting a fresh look on the national stage.
Walz, a 60-year-old former congressman in his second term as the state’s governor, was introduced to the nation Tuesday night in Pennsylvania by his running mate Vice President Kamala Harris, who herself has only been in the race since a little more than two weeks ago when President Joe Biden dropped out.
“Since the day that I announced, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future, a leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward. A fighter for the middle class, a patriot who believes as I do in the extraordinary promise of America,” Harris said. “So Pennsylvania, I’m here today because I found such a leader.”
After news broke Tuesday morning that Harris had selected Walz, social media was abuzz as news outlets and pundits drew attention to the governor’s record, with some dubbing him “Tampon Tim,” a reference to a bill he signed that requires schools to stock period products in boys’ and girls’ bathrooms.
“The Tim Walz oppo file is worse than Kamala’s which is saying a lot. There is no dodging immigration as a key issue with his abysmal record. At some point they will have to take questions,” Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk wrote on X.
Here’s a look at some of the top items on Walz’s record that could be a drag on the ticket.
- Feeding Our Future
Referred to as the “largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the nation,” 70 Minnesotans have been indicted for defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition Program of $250 million. Eighteen of them have pleaded guilty, while five of seven defendants in the first trial were found guilty of most charges.
In Minnesota, the program is administered by the state’s Department of Education, which is part of the Walz administration. A recent audit found that the governor’s administration “failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud” and “did not effectively exercise its authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements.”
At the outset of the scandal, Walz was called out by a sitting judge for his “false” claims about his administration’s handling of the situation.
- George Floyd riots
Walz’s response to the riots across the Twin Cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020 has already become a major campaign issue.
“They make an interesting tag team because, of course, Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020 and then the few who got caught, Kamala Harris helped bail them out of jail,” Sen. JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, said Tuesday, referring to Harris’ 2020 tweet in which she encouraged people to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
When all was said and done, more than 1,500 businesses suffered a combined $500 million in damage.
NEVER BEFORE SEEN INTERVIEW:@kare11 anchor JULIE NELSON DOUBLES DOWN ON her now famous "live" broadcast criticism of TIM WALZ for his lack of communication with media and bungled response to May/June 2020 riots in Minneapolis.
WATCH in two parts:
1/ pic.twitter.com/bf2h1m9Akl— MN Up North Lake Guy (@MNUpNorthLakeG1) August 5, 2022
- Military service
Three retired command sergeant majors in the Minnesota National Guard spoke out about Walz’s military service during his 2018 and 2022 gubernatorial runs, saying he “let his soldiers down” by avoiding a deployment to Iraq in 2005 before running for Congress.
The issue first came to light in Walz’s 2018 run for governor when Tom Behrends published an open letter on Facebook in which he claimed Walz had “embellished and selectively omitted facts and circumstances of his military career for years.”
“As soon as the shots were fired in Iraq, he turned and ran the other way and hung his hat up and quit,” Behrends later told Alpha News in an interview.
A spokesperson for Walz previously said this issue has been in the news before and pointed Alpha News to a past story where Walz said “normally this type of partisan political attack only comes from one who’s never worn a uniform.”
- 2023 session
The 2023 legislative session in Minnesota proved to be one of, if not the most, left-wing legislative sessions in state history.
During the session, Gov. Walz signed multiple bills which provided state services to illegal immigrants. One of those bills provided driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, another gave illegal immigrants access to a state-run health care program. Additionally, Walz signed legislation which allowed illegal immigrants to apply for tuition-free college education paid for by the state.
While legislation to make Minnesota a so-called “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants was not put to a vote in Minnesota, Walz has expressed his openness to the idea in the past.
Furthermore, Walz approved a law which legalizes abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. The Minnesota governor also signed a bill making the state a “refuge” for children seeking sex-change services.
At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, Minnesota had a budget surplus of more than $17 billion. By the end of the session, Walz had signed off on the largest budget in Minnesota history; $72 billion over two years. The previous biennial state budget was just over $52 billion. This 38% increase in state spending was coupled with significant tax increases.
- Drunk driving incident
Walz is far from the first politician with a DUI on his record. However, during his 2006 run for Congress, his campaign manager told the Rochester Post Bulletin he was “not drunk” during his 1995 arrest, which is contradicted by court records.
“I think that he eventually hit a speed of over 80, as I recall. When he was stopped, he was given a blood test which did show a .128 blood alcohol,” former Dawes County Attorney Rex Nowlan said during a hearing in the case, according to a court transcript.
- Covid policies
When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, Gov. Walz was directly responsible for how the state responded to the situation, making decisions and issuing executive orders that would directly impact millions.
Walz’s first major action during the pandemic was to shut down the state for weeks. Businesses were forced to close, and those who did not faced criminal punishment. Many watched their livelihood evaporate right in front of their eyes. Additionally, the governor’s so-called “stay-at-home order” threatened Minnesotans with jail and fines if they did not abide by the order.
Schools were closed by Gov. Walz in the middle of the 2020 semester before students were eventually moved to “remote learning” for the remainder of the school year. After the summer of 2020, many schools were forced to do remote learning during the 2020-21 school year. As a result, Minnesota students fell behind academically.
The Walz administration also rolled out a “tip line” during the pandemic which encouraged people to alert the government if they saw their neighbors or fellow Minnesotans not abiding by the “stay-at-home” order. Using the tip line, individuals ratted out their fellow Minnesotans to the state government for using public parks, getting together, and other normal activities.
A big promoter of the COVID vaccine, Walz issued a vaccine mandate which required all state government employees to get a COVID vaccine.
When the pandemic first began, Walz purchased a large warehouse that he planned to use as a morgue to house dead bodies his administration believed would pile up over the course of the pandemic. After spending millions of taxpayer dollars to acquire the property, the warehouse went unused.
“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,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
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.
