Gov. Tim Walz spoke to Democratic activists in South Carolina Saturday morning as they gathered for their annual convention in a state that’s well known as one of the early primaries during presidential election cycles.
Later that day, the Minnesota Democratic governor was repeating many of his same talking points as he spoke to a partisan audience in southern California.
The former vice-presidential candidate’s remarks came on a weekend where lawmakers back in Minnesota remained at a budget impasse and a violent shooting took place outside a high school graduation ceremony.
Walz: ‘Bully the s–t’ out of Trump and ‘get a little meaner’
Walz framed his Saturday morning speech in Columbia, South Carolina around two things: his accomplishments as governor with a slim Democratic majority in the state legislature two years ago; and expounding on a playbook he’s developed the last few months while traveling the country that encourages Democrats to “bully the s–t out of” President Donald Trump and “get a little meaner and more fierce” with Republicans.
But one item Walz highlighted multiple times on Saturday is the claim that under his leadership, “kids don’t get shot dead in the classrooms.”
It’s a line Walz regularly invokes during stump speeches to highlight gun control legislation he has signed into law in Minnesota.
Those words came about 12 hours after a shooting took place just outside a high school graduation ceremony on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.
The shooting occurred at Mariucci Arena just after 8 p.m. on Friday, as family members and other supporters of the Wayzata High School graduates were exiting the facility, many waiting outside to greet their children.
According to Crime Watch Minneapolis, a 49-year-old male was shot in the head, and a 19-year-old male was shot in the leg as hundreds of people were leaving the ceremony. One man was arrested in relation to the incident.
While Walz posted to social media on Friday night that his administration was monitoring the situation, he didn’t mention the violence during his speech the next morning. But he did invoke his school shooting rhetoric.
“And for Democrats, here’s what we need to know,” Walz said Saturday morning. “You need to embrace this. We win hearts and minds. We win the issues. If you go ask people if they want children to eat, they’ll say ‘yes.’ If you go ask people if they want smart things to make sure our children aren’t shot in schools, they’ll say ‘yes.’”
Later that day, after a 2,400-mile commute to the California Democratic State Convention, Walz boasted that Minnesota is at a “three-decade low in violent crime” under his governorship. He joked with Democratic activists in Anaheim that his critics in Minnesota deride him for passing “socialist agendas” like in California.
“The Republicans kept saying, ‘Gov. Walz is trying to make Minnesota a cold California, (with) all these progressive policies,’” Walz said. “I said, ‘Oh no. I’m going further than where (California’s) going.'”
Republicans criticize Walz’s rhetoric as ‘part of a troubling pattern’
Republicans in Minnesota were quick to criticize Walz for his rhetoric, calling the governor’s recent references to Trump as a dictator “part of a troubling pattern.”
“Whether he’s comparing law enforcement to the Gestapo, likening Elon Musk to Hitler, or labeling political opponents as ‘dictators,’ Governor Walz continues to use inflammatory rhetoric that divides and distracts,” said Alex Plechash, chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota. “It’s beneath the dignity of his office—and it undermines the serious negotiations needed to avoid a disastrous shutdown.”
Conservative political organizations in Minnesota called on Walz to “come back (to Minnesota) to avert a looming government shutdown.
“Tim Walz has abandoned his home state of Minnesota,” said Jake Coleman, state director for Americans for Prosperity. “While Walz gives stump speeches in far-away states this weekend to campaign for his next job, Minnesota state government workers may lose their current jobs thanks to his party’s poor governance.”
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.
