Could Tim Walz be the secret to Harris ascending to the White House?

Democrats have quickly fallen for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s Midwest dad persona, sharing videos of him going on a rollercoaster with daughter Hope at a State Fair, working on a car, and signing a bill renaming a street in Prince’s honor in purple ink.

But we’re more interested in his long record as a politician. A 60-year-old veteran and former teacher with many years of governing experience, Walz beat out more moderate candidates from swing districts.

In selecting Walz as her second-in-command, it could be said that Kamala Harris handed progressives a big win. But for those who don’t know the democratic pick for the vice presidency, here’s a look at where Tim Walz stands on the issues based on his signed bills as governor.

Healthcare

Tim Walz spent his first term as governor under a divided government pushing to expand MinnesotaCare, Minnesota’s health insurance program for the working poor.

With Democrats in power, Walz signed a bill moving the state toward establishing a public option that allows all residents without employer-subsidized health insurance to buy into MinnesotaCare.

The earliest that could begin is 2027, and lawmakers must still obtain federal approval and find a way to fund this new social benefit.

In the first year of his second term, Walz signed a bill to expand access to public health insurance to the over 40,000 undocumented individuals estimated to live in Minnesota who meet the income requirements of MinnesotaCare beginning as early as next year.

Tim Walz also signed a bill making Minnesota a refuge for those seeking gender-affirming care.

Something else worth mentioning is that, like many Democratic governors, Walz put a stay-at-home order at the start of the pandemic and an indoor mask mandate and restrictions on public events at the urging of public health authorities.

He also required state workers to be vaccinated before returning to the workplace. And by the time the worst was over, Minnesota had lower COVID-19 death rates than most other states.

Taxes

Tim Walz signed a 1% sales tax increase in the Twin Cities metro area, with .25% dedicated to housing and .75% for transportation. It was a substantial victory for Democrats, who had long desired affordable housing and public transit funding.

But the tax hike — passed when the Legislature had a $17.5 billion surplus, didn’t make Republicans too happy.

Walz also signed a bill connecting the state’s gas tax to inflation, capped at 3%, which was a politically risky decision as high gas prices and inflation took a beating to consumers’ back pockets.

Besides tax increases, Tim Walz and his colleagues exempted Social Security income from taxes for joint filers earning less than $100,000 annually.

They also supported tax credits for low-income families, and the state earned praise for having the most equitable tax system in the nation. Walz also signed one of the nation’s most extensive child tax credits, granting $1,750 per child to low-income Minnesotans.

He even signed a bill expanding the Working Family Credit, which is the state equivalent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

The Legislature passed, and Walz signed a one-time tax rebate of $260-$1,300, depending on family size, in what became commonly known as a “Timmy stimmy.”

Gun control

When running for governor in 2018, the perception was that Tim Walz was pro-guns. He grew up around them, hunts pheasants, was a skilled marksman during his military career and had long been endorsed by the NRA.

Yet that all changed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, which also overlapped with Walz’s campaign to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement that year. At the time, he stated: “The world’s changed. I’ve changed.”

Since then, he signed bills mandating background checks for all private gun sales, permitting a judge to temporarily take a person’s guns if they are considered a threat to themselves or others, otherwise known as the “red flag” law.

He also fought for increasing the penalty for “straw purchases” of firearms, like when a person purchases a gun for the express purpose of helping someone get one when they’re not legally allowed to.

That law was passed in the wake of the killing of three first responders by a gunman alleged to have used a firearm obtained through a straw purchase.

Policing and public safety

The fallout of the George Floyd case in 2020 presented one of Tim Walz’s career’s most significant political challenges. The widespread destruction of the riots created a lasting liability for him.

The mayor of Minneapolis blamed Walz for hesitating to call the National Guard while the city burned. Walz’s office declared that the city didn’t provide enough information to deploy the National Guard until the afternoon of May 28th, after three nights of rioting and protests.

At the time, Walz also faced pressure to quickly pass police reforms by those far to the left of him championing “defund the police,” a slogan that continues to haunt mainstream Democrats. Here’s a list of a few other bills Tim Walz passed:

-Undocumented Minnesotans can now get a driver’s license after Tim Walz signed a bill in early 2023.

-Walz signed a bipartisan bill in 2020 with policing changes, including a ban on “warrior-style” training for police officers, certain chokeholds, and residency incentives for police officers to live in the city they patrol.

-He also signed a bill changing the state’s standard for deadly force. He banned officers from entering homes without knocking, with limited exceptions, in response to the 2022 police killing of Amir Locke, a young Black man not suspected of a crime.

-Tim Walz also signed legislation that limits probation to five years for most felonies, makes phone calls accessible for prisoners, legalizes possession of drug paraphernalia, makes it easier for people to delete non-violent crimes from their records, makes it easier to get amnesty, and bans people involved in hate or extremist groups from being licensed as police officers.

-He also signed off on a massive overhaul of the state’s prison system, making it more rehabilitative and less punitive to reduce recidivism. It includes earned release, in which prisoners can get out earlier and shorten their community supervision time if they participate in rehabilitation programs. Now, prisoners can get out when half their sentence has been served if they finish programs and have good overall behavior. Republicans called it a “get out of jail free” bill.

-While governor, the state gave $300 million to cities, counties, and tribal governments to spend on law enforcement as they saw fit and invested $70 million in community violence prevention grants for victim services, prison re-entry, restorative justice, homelessness assistance, violence interruption, and juvenile diversion.

Abortion access

Among the first bills Tim Walz signed after Democrats took control of the Legislature was the Protect Reproductive Options Act, ensuring that “every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s reproductive health.”

The law fulfilled a campaign pledge that helped Democrats win control of state government after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states across the Midwest and South to pass severe restrictions on abortion.

Democrats then passed a “shield law” aimed at protecting women who travel to Minnesota for abortions by prohibiting law enforcement, state courts, and health care providers from cooperating with authorities beyond the state.

Finally, Democrats eliminated virtually all restrictions on abortion, many of which had already been deemed unconstitutional, including that both parents of minors be notified, that abortions after the first trimester be performed in an abortion facility or hospital and that the state Department of Health keeps data on abortions.

What’s YOUR take on the fact that Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate? Please feel free to share your thoughts with our readers in the comments section below. Will you be voting come election time? You may like one of these fun election t-shirts from Amazon!

Meanwhile, if you liked this article, we highly recommend you also read: 4 HUGE Differences Between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump