How Tim Walz went from 'Blue Dog Democrat' to progressive champion
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On the opening day of Minnesota's legislative session this year, Gov. Tim Walz rushed between chambers wielding a spatula and a tray of cinnamon-spiced apple dessert bars.
“It’s a gesture of friendship to start this session off,” Walz said to the press before handing Republican and Democratic lawmakers apple blondies.
Walz started this tradition after he was elected in 2018 when there was split control at the statehouse. Back then he had to find compromise between the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House.
That first term as governor was reminiscent of his time in Congress, when he was seen as a moderate. But his reputation changed after he was reelected as governor in 2022 along with full Democratic control of state government, ushering in a series of progressive priorities over the next years.
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“He does very minimal to reach across the aisle,” Minnesota Republican House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth said about Walz. “As leader, over the last two years, there was very little that I had an opportunity to work with him.”
With nearly two decades of time in elected office, Walz has evolved from straddling partisan divides to championing progressive priorities.
He defeated longtime Republican Congressman Gil Gutknect when he first ran for Congress in 2006 and was seen as a moderate “Blue Dog” Democrat. In one major example, he broke with most Democrats in 2008 when he opposed the $700 billion bank bailout, called Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Walz had an “A rating” from the National Rifle Association while serving in Congress; he was later downgraded to an “F” for supporting firearm restrictions.
But over the last legislative sessions, Walz signed several progressive proposals without much support from Republicans in 2023. He passed a $72 billion budget package that expanded free meals to schoolchildren, required all Minnesota power plants to use 100% climate friendly energy by 2040 and codifying the right to abortion in the state.
“I suppose we all change a little bit,” Walz told MPR News at the end of the 2023 legislative session when asked if his political positions had changed. “I don't find restricting abortion to be a moderate position. Would me being moderate gone to eight weeks or something? Some of these things are just such core values.”
Minnesota Republican Congressman Brad Finstad, who represents the congressional district Walz once held, argued Walz has "definitely changed."
“I would say the only thing that’s conservative left about Tim Walz is his haircut,” he said. “He is a much different governor than he was a congressman."
The announcement that Walz would be Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate came down during the Farmfest agricultural trade show in Redwood Falls. One attendee, Ken Ebnet, said he objected to spending during Walz's administration.
“When we had all that surplus of money the other year, he could have given it back to the people,” he said.
Farmer Dan Lundell said he’s excited to see how Walz could influence national policy as vice president.
“I think it’s important on a national level to feed all children in schools [and] local foods,” he said. “That supports farmers. All levels of farmers.”
Walz was invited to speak at Farmfest but was in route to a series of Harris campaign events in crucial swing states. Instead, former North Dakota Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp worked the crowd on his behalf, saying the policies supported by Walz transcend political labels, and get back to the origins of the Democratic Party.
“I think that you can call them progressive, but at the end of the day, what these are is, to me, they're an expression of where we started out, as a party in the New Deal,” Heitkamp said.
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