Tim Walz grew up in a rural Nebraska town about 1,500 miles from the coastal blue cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
He governs Minnesota, a Midwestern state even farther away.
But that has not stopped the GOP from rushing to portray Walz — Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president — as an extreme “radical leftist” who seeks to spread California’s “dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.”
“It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary, said in a statement as soon as Harris revealed her choice. “Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.”
Former President Trump went farther, alleging that Walz was more radical than his running mate who grew up in the Bay Area.
“Even worse than Dangerously Liberal and Crooked Kamala Harris – HE’S THAT BAD,” Trump wrote in a fundraising email. “He’ll unleash HELL ON EARTH and open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable. He’ll rubber stamp Kamla’s GREEN NEW SCAM and light trillions of dollars on fire.”
It’s a line of attack that GOP strategists and pundits figure resonates with a Republican base that views California as the ultimate symbol of blue-state left and liberal excess.
The problem, for Republicans, is that Walz, a folksy, straight-talking politician who grew up in Valentine, Neb., has many qualities that veer outside stereotypes of the progressive Democratic urban elite: He is a veteran who served in the Army National Guard for 24 years. He is a former football coach, a hunter and a gun owner.
The GOP narrative of Walz’s radicalism — like some Democratic accounts that emphasize his moderation — fails to capture the complexity of his life and political legacy as a congressman and governor.
Sean Hannity, the conservative Fox News commentator, dubbed Walz the “Bernie Sanders of governors,” promising to devote his afternoon radio show to vetting Walz in detail.
“Tim Walz is a weird radical liberal,” the “MAGA War Room” posted on Tuesday on the social media site X, citing a bill Walz signed last year that required school districts to provide “all menstruating students” with access to menstrual products and an executive order that directed state agencies to support access to “gender-affirming” health care for LGBTQ+ people.
“What could be weirder than signing a bill requiring schools to stock tampons in boys’ bathrooms?” Or weirder than signing legislation allowing minors to receive sex change operations?”
Elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, Walz championed many policies associated with California, from clean energy to codifying the right to abortion.
He signed laws that required Minnesota to generate all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040, guaranteed free school meals to all K-12 students, and allowed immigrants without legal status to get driver’s licenses.