My 2nd VP Pick: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
Governor Walz offers a unique appeal with an alternative message to despair and division.
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Well, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has officially taken himself out of the veepstakes. Too bad he didn't hold off the reports until after the last post was published.
At any rate, I will go to my next favorite VP pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Initially, he was not someone really on my radar at all. But in the last couple of days, he has shown himself to be a remarkable public figure who can help just as much as North Carolina Roy Cooper would have. Here’s why:
Tim Walz is someone who understands the grit of the working class. He was a public school teacher who also taught on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He worked on a family farm. He was a high school football coach. He was a military veteran who served our nation with dignity and honor as an Army National Guard command sergeant.
Walz ran for Congress and unseated GOP incumbent Gil Gutknecht in one of the biggest upsets of the 2006 midterms. He served Southern Minnesota for 12 years in the House of Representatives and repeatedly won reelection under tough national environments in a GOP-leaning rural congressional district (including in 2010, 2014, and 2016), sometimes doing so handily.
Congressman Walz gained a reputation on Capitol Hill as a bipartisan dealmaker who also holds core values and beliefs. Congressman Walz’s office was praised for its constituency services and advocacy for veterans during his entire congressional tenure. Walz was a vocal critic on the War in Iraq, fully committed to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, supported the Affordable Care Act from the start, sponsored investments in public education, backed stem cell research, and stood for responsible cap-and-trade rules.
Tim Walz has been elected to two terms as Governor in Minnesota. He first won by double digits in 2018 against the GOP nominee. During the 2022 midterms, he held his own by roughly the same margin Biden won in the state. By the way, Walz beat a candidate named Dr. Scott Jensen, a Republican who did not get nearly the same amount of national attention and scrutiny as MAGA stalwarts like Doug Mastriano or Blake Masters did.
Governor Walz has pursued a bold Minnesota agenda much like what has taken place on the national level with an almost endless list of accomplishments and is a model for what can be done nationwide in the next term, if November goes right. Here are some of the most notable wins: red flag gun laws, abortion access codification, voting rights restoration, LGBTQ protections, child tax credits, Medicaid expansion, tuition-free public college, paid family leave, end of taxes to Social Security benefits, free breakfasts & meals for children, $1b housing investments, $300m nursing home investments, more education funding, a state carbon-free energy program, a capital construction package, labor rights support, more consumer guardrails, a forever chemicals ban, and the legalization of marijuana. Laboratories of Democracy vs. Laboratories of Autocracy really make a big difference.
Governor Walz is a dynamic, compelling communicator who can relate to all people, especially in Trump Country as he does in Biden Country. He is not afraid to go toe-to-toe with Fox News or JD Vance, and he holds no punches in calling out the bluff and telling it like it is. Just watch some of his interviews with Alex Wagner, Joe Scarborough, Stephanie Ruhle, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, and Bill Hemmer.
Governor Walz has proven to provide down-ballot coattails to the DFL as well, with the Minnesota House flipping in 2018, and the Minnesota Senate flipping in 2022 to form a governing trifecta.
Governor Walz offers experience not just on domestic policy, but on foreign policy. He not only has experience in state government, but also in the federal government.
Governor Walz has been exposed to communities crucial to the 2024 election. His state & former district encompass much of the same socioeconomic characteristics of Midwestern battlegrounds like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, more Republican-leaning states like Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa, and even Southern states such as North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas.
Tim Walz is not just a running mate that progressives and organized labor are excited about. Many Rural Democrats & Midwestern Democrats share their enthusiasm too. Walz would perfectly compliment the presidential ticket.
So some advice from those who doubted Tim Walz or those who didn't know him before, like myself: Underestimate him at your own peril. Because Prairie Populism & Midwestern Progressivism is the needed antidote to MAGA Culture Wars & Phony Populism.
My third VP pick may just be Michigan US Senator Gary Peters, the motorcycle-riding Navy officer. Or, the man willing to buck the DC establishment to stand with the labor movement and Occupy Wall Street protesters. He was elected to Congress in 2008 as a reformer, unseating an incumbent Republican lawmaker. He helped save the auto industry with President Obama and then-Vice President Biden, assisted in the passage of the Affordable Care Act, stood steadfast for reproductive access (not at the very least due to his own personal story), and supported gun safety as a gun owner himself.
As a two-term Senator, he is a national leader on postal service reform, homeland security preparations, and veteran services. Plus, he was one of the key figures to help Congressional Democrats weather the storm in the 2022 midterms. Much like Governor Walz.
But rest assured. Whoever is chosen to be Vice President Harris’s running mate will surely make the case clear against Donald Trump and JD Vance who are not running against the DC establishment, but have become the establishment themselves.
Speaking of VP running mates, here is more philosophical commentary from JD Vance on childless Americans, whether it relates to finances or even psychology. Some strange people around Trump for his next Administration.
And speaking of winning back the working class across all stripes, those interested should really RSVP here for the upcoming Rural Americans for Harris campaign call on August 6. Bring all of your friends from our small towns and old industrial cities alike in the Midwest, the South, and across these United States to this special event (which will feature…Governor Tim Walz):
#Rural4Harris #DirtRoadDems
Otherwise, stay tuned for the official VP pick likely to be announced next week.
"And speaking of winning back the working class across all stripes, those interested should really RSVP here for the upcoming Rural Americans for Harris campaign call on August 6. Bring all of your friends from our small towns and old industrial cities alike in the Midwest, the South, and across these United States to this special event (which will feature…Governor Tim Walz):"
Good for Walz!