WHO IS TIM WALZ AND WHY I AM A"WALZNUT"

Let’s just start with he’s only a few yearsolder than Kamala, but hecomes across as everybody’s favorite grandfather. Then there’s the high school history teacher so popular with his students they all volunteered to work on his first congressional campaign. And that Minnesota-nice “midwesternness”: “Are you sure you want to gop with that weird shit, sir?” And of course, the closer: “Weird.”

Cross posted from Public Notice:

WHY TIM WALZ'S PROGRESSIVE SUPPORT IS GREAT FOR DEMOCRATS

Aaron Rupar and Noah Berlatsky

By Noah Berlatsky

Two weeks ago, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was largely unknown nationally. Today, he’s a widely beloved Democratic figure and a leading candidate to become Kamala Harris’s running mate. It’s a startling and disorienting political ascent. How did it happen?

Part of his sudden success is due to Walz himself, whose avuncular charisma plays well on television, and whose strong record in Minnesota gives him a lot of bragging rights.

Walz has also benefited, though, from the fact that progressives and the left have settled upon him as a pragmatic compromise.

Left presidential preferences over the last decade have been dominated by Bernie Sanders, a unique and to some degree anti-establishment figure who promised to seize the party from its current leadership and turn it into a vehicle for radical change. Walz is a very different politician, and his embrace by progressives suggests a new willingness to work within the Democratic Party.

That willingness might translate into more influence within the coalition. It also might signal greater Democratic strength and unity.

Walz’s wins

A lot of Walz’s recent national success is directly the result of the talents of one Tim Walz.

Before running for office, Walz spent 24 years in the National Guard and worked as a high school history teacher in Mankato, where he helped form Mankato West’s first Gay-Straight Alliance at a time when LGBT people were marginalized.

Walz has a long and impressive record of electoral, personal, and policy successes in Democratic politics. He was elected to Congress from a rural southern Minnesota district in 2006, a year Democrats picked up 30 seats, and was elected freshman class president by his colleagues. His local focus and popularity allowed him to hold the seat through the red waves of 2010 and 2014.

Trump won the district by 15 points in 2016. But even then Walz wasn’t dislodged, winning the district by a point. Walz is in fact the only Democrat to win the seat since 1992. Before his 2007-2017 tenure and afterwards, it’s been in GOP hands.

Following his 2016 victory, Walz ran successfully for governor in 2018 and won reelection in 2022. Ahead of his second second term, Democrats won a two-vote Democratic majority in the state House and a one-vote majority in the Senate. That gave them a trifecta and full control of state government for the first time in a decade.

Walz and the legislature could have treated their narrow win as a narrow mandate. But instead of leading with timidity, they went big, pushing through a dizzying array of progressive legislation.

Here’s a MinnPost summary:

Democrats codified abortion rights, paid family and medical leave, sick leave, transgender rights protections, drivers licenses for undocumented residents, restoration of voting rights for people when they are released from prison or jail, wider voting access, one-time rebates, a tax credit aimed at low-income parents with kids, and a $1 billion investment in affordable housing including for rental assistance.

Also adopted were background checks for private gun transfers and a red-flag warning system to take guns from people deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. DFL lawmakers banned conversion therapy for LGBTQ people, legalized recreational marijuana, expanded education funding, required a carbon-free electric grid by 2040, adopted a new reading curricula based on phonics, passed a massive $2.58 billion capital construction package and, at the insistence of Republicans, a $300 million emergency infusion of money to nursing homes.

Paid family and medical leave! A ban on conversion therapy! A carbon-free electric grid by 2040! Legalized cannabis! All with a one-vote majority!

And this doesn’t even mention the main program Walz has been touting on his media hits — a universal free school meals program, which provides breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota students regardless of family income.

“The haves and have-nots in the school lunchroom is not a necessary thing,” Walz said when Republicans criticized the refusal to means test. “Just feed our children.”

As this suggests, Walz has a gift for the folksy framing of progressive policy as common-sense decency. In his round of VP media hits, he found a perfect way to frame Trump/Vance and MAGA: “These guys are just weird.”

The talking point that Republicans are “weird” or goofy has blown up; everyone from ex-Republican, conservative-leaning pundit Tom Nichols to AOC to Harris herself have embraced the messaging.

Walz, in sum, is an electoral red district juggernaut, respected by colleagues, with a stunning record of progressive legislation and a powerful ability to promote Democratic ideas. He’s done a lot to build his own popularity and make himself a credible VP pick.

Progressives for Walz

Walz has also benefitted, though, from a swift and unusually coordinated progressive effort to elevate him.

To be clear, Walz is popular within the party. However, many progressive pundits and activists with large platforms have been especially enthusiastic about his candidacy. Gun control proponent David Hogg has been promoting Walz relentlessly; so has left journalist Mehdi Hasan; so has YouTube influencer Kyle Kuczynski.

A big part of the reason the left has chosen Walz is because, from a progressive perspective, he’s better than the alternatives on offer.

Thanks again and again to all you paid subscribers who make it possible for me to concentrate on this work. It’s only $7/month or $70/year.

Comments are for paid subscribers.