Almost immediately after Tim Walz was selected by Vice President Kamala Harris to be her running mate on the Democratic ticket for president, the campaign for former President Donald Trump, the GOP candidate for the White House, went on the attack against the Minnesota governor.
But those hyperbolic attacks largely floundered, falling apart under the weight of their own ridiculousness, and in at least one instance, backfired against Trump by reminding people of his recent criminal convictions.
A Trump spokesperson tried to label Walz as a “West Coast wannabe,” deriding the governor for purportedly wanting to run his state in a progressive way. “Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
In reality, Walz is popular among most voters in Minnesota, with a poll in January of this year finding that 55 percent of residents approved of his work in office. Walz is also in the middle of his second term, as voters determined he deserved another four years in the governor’s mansion in 2022, defeating his Republican opponent by about 8 points.
Trump’s campaign spokesperson continued to belittle Walz for legislation he has signed while in office — specifically, a bill that allows individuals formerly convicted of felony-level crimes to have their right to vote restored upon completion of their prison sentences.
Although a popular idea embraced by most voters across the country, Leavitt scoffed at Walz for signing the bill into law, saying in her statement that he is “embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote” — forgetful that her boss, Trump, was convicted of felony-level crimes this past spring, a fact that users on social media were quick to remind her of.
“Need to get the campaign’s position but sure seems like they think Florida should strip Donald Trump’s voting rights!” said Alex Shephard, staff writer for The New Republic.
“You’d think, given their nominee, Republicans might want policies ‘to allow convicted felons to vote,'” suggested Catherine Vaughan, co-founder of Abundance New York.
Trump himself tried to attack Walz as the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, claiming in a fundraising email that the candidate would “unleash HELL ON EARTH” if he and Harris were elected.
Critics again assailed Trump’s characterization of the Midwestern Democratic governor, who is viewed as being very down-to-earth and even folksy by some.
“Has he met Tim Walz?” questioned HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery.
Other social media users shared images of Walz being hugged by school children after he signed a bill to expand a school lunch program and of him holding a pig while attending a Minnesota fair, among others.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s vice presidential running mate, also failed in his attacks against Walz, claiming that the governor’s “record is a joke” by focusing on the uprisings that took place in Minnesota following the police-perpetrated killing of George Floyd in 2020, while ignoring other accomplishments of Walz’s that many Americans would be supportive of. Vance, at a campaign rally, further harangued Walz as “one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level,” despite the fact that analyses have shown that the governor is actually just center-left.
Walz has faced some criticism over his response to the Black Lives Matter uprisings, but it has been from the left — his deployment of the National Guard to quell the protests was viewed by some as perpetuating the very state-based violence that had triggered the demonstrations in the first place.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” on Fox News Wednesday morning, Trump further derided the selection of Walz.
“This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately if not sooner,” Trump said in a red-baiting attack on Walz, condemning him for taking actions to protect transgender youth in Minnesota. He also called Harris’s selection of Walz as being “insulting to Jewish people” in a convoluted dig suggesting, wrongly, that antisemitism played a role in the choice of Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).
In fact, Shapiro helped introduce Walz as Harris’s running mate at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. Harris reportedly decided to pick Walz instead of Shapiro after the latter did poorly in a one-on-one interview with her. Moreover, Harris herself is married to Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish.
Aside from his handling of the uprisings, Walz is praised by progressives on several other issues, including: implementing one of the most pro-worker pieces of legislation in the country; expunging low-level marijuana crimes and making recreational cannabis legal in the state starting next year; making some small changes in policing standards, including funding violence prevention programs; signing into law a bill that codifies state judicial protections for abortion; and providing free meals to all Minnesota school students, regardless of income level.
“I am very impressed by him,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a recent Minnesota Public Radio interview, adding that Walz is someone who “understands the needs of working families.”