‘Socialist’ vs. social studies teacher: Republicans and Democrats battle to define Tim Walz

It took mere minutes after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz emerged as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate for Republicans to settle on a line of attack: he’s a far-left politician who would join the most liberal presidential ticket in history.

The coordinated onslaught from allies of Donald Trump was designed to undercut images that Democrats were circulating showing Walz as a schoolteacher, football coach and Nebraska-born Midwesterner who served in the Army National Guard.

With just over 90 days left to go in the presidential contest, the race to define the Democratic ticket is intensifying — with Harris’s choice of a No. 2 further jolting a campaign that was upended by President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out last month. Over the past three weeks, Republicans have rushed to brand Harris as a “radical leftist,” and some believed their push was made easier by her selection of a Minnesota governor who has backed laws expanding gender-affirming care, restricting gun access, advancing green energy and providing taxpayer benefits for undocumented immigrants.

By contrast, Harris’s campaign has played up Walz’s rural upbringing and history of bipartisanship, suggesting that he could help her win over undecided voters with more moderate views and highlighting his record on reproductive rights, infrastructure, veterans’ issues and health care.

That battle to define Walz is expected to be pitched because he is not well-known nationally and because his political record includes nods to both the conservative and liberal wings of his party. That phenomenon was reflected by the endorsements he received Tuesday from Sen. Joe Manchin III (I-W. V.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Manchin — who left the Democratic Party in May after being its most conservative senator — said Walz would bring “balance” back to the party, while Ocasio-Cortez highlighted his long list of progressive achievements.

In her own statement, Harris pointed to Walz’s biography and his work across the aisle during a career that included a stint in Congress and in the governorship.

“He worked with Republicans to pass infrastructure investments,” Harris wrote on Instagram. “He cut taxes for working families. He passed a law to provide paid family and medical leave to Minnesotan families.”

[Tim Walz’s journey from high school football coach to VP candidate]

Republicans are determined to focus on other parts of Walz’s record, including laws he signed recently after Democrats secured full control of the Minnesota legislature in 2022.

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley called Harris and Walz “the most radical, far-left ticket in the history of our country,” while the Trump campaign immediately began to call Walz a “rubber stamp” for a “dangerously liberal agenda.”

Rep. Tom Tiffany, (R-Wis.), went even further, writing on X that Walz and Harris were “the SOCIALIST dream.”

In making their attacks, Trump and his allies zeroed in on Walz’s passage of a wide array of liberal priorities in Minnesota and his handling of the racial justice protests and riots in 2020, after George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. They pointed to a Minnesota law requiring the state’s utilities to transition to carbon-free electricity sources by 2040; a law expanding voting rights for people convicted of felonies; and efforts to expand undocumented immigrants’ eligibility for health insurance and in-state tuition.

“Kamala Harris just doubled-down on her radical vision for America by tapping another left-wing extremist as her VP nominee,” began a video released by the Trump campaign Tuesday morning.

Walz has defended attacks on his record by pointing to the more popular components of the bills he has signed, which include tuition-free college for low-income students and free breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota schoolchildren.

Asked in a July 28 interview with CNN if such policies would make it easier for Republicans to brand him as a proponent of big-government liberalism, Walz’s sarcastic response was celebrated by Democrats.

“What a monster,” he said. “Kids are eating and having full bellies, so they can go learn, and women are making their own health-care decisions.”

He added that Minnesota had been ranked as a friendly place for business, and that personal incomes, quality of life and educational attainment were all high in his state.

Many Republicans had worried that Harris would pick a popular swing-state politician with centrist appeal. Trump’s team had been bracing for Democrats to make their lives harder there by choosing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who won the battleground state easily in 2022 or Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D), who has struck a tougher tone on the border that could help win over moderates.

As Walz got the nod instead, Republicans prepared to amplify attacks they were already making on Harris, particularly their suggestions the former prosecutor and California attorney general has not been tough enough on crime. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, told reporters on Tuesday that Walz and Harris make an “interesting tag team — because of course Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down Minneapolis in the summer of 2020.” He then repeated the Trump team’s frequent criticism of Harris for promoting a Minnesota bail fund — Harris had encouraged people on social media to “help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.”

Many Republicans, including Vance, sought to link Walz to the “defund the police” movement that gained steam after Floyd’s murder. But Walz notably opposed a ballot proposal that unsuccessfully sought to replace the Minneapolis police department. Walz endorsed a bipartisan police reform package but did not push to cut funding, as some attack ads falsely claimed during his reelection campaign.

The Trump campaign also tried to undercut the Midwest appeal Democrats see in Walz. Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt suggested Walz was a better fit for Harris’s native California, branding him “a West Coast wannabe” and referring to the “Harris-Walz California dream.”

But just as Republicans have a trove of information to work with to try to brand Walz as out of touch with mainstream America, Democrats are prepared to counter such attacks with their own evidence.

The Harris campaign, which is preparing for the Democratic national convention later this month, plans to blunt GOP attacks by playing up the fact that Walz is a lifelong hunter who won a Republican-held congressional district and was ranked among the most bipartisan lawmakers in the House.

The campaign will point to Walz’s record in the House working on issues related to veterans and agriculture and voting in favor of border security, deficit reduction and additional vetting for refugees from Syria, according to a campaign official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

Harris’s allies also plan to counter criticism of his handling of the Minneapolis unrest in 2020 by highlighting positive remarks from Trump’s defense secretary praising the governor, the official said.

Some Democrats said Walz’s history winning in Republican-leaning areas make him asset in a truncated campaign.

“Republicans may have a hard time caricaturing him because he represents a pretty broad, diverse coalition,” said Joel Payne, a Democratic strategist. “In order to win the governor’s race twice in that state, you’ve got to be pretty deft at building and maintaining coalition.”

While Walz is well-known in Minnesota after more than 15 years in public office, he is not a household name nationally.

Tevi Troy, a presidential historian, said that puts the onus on Republicans to define him for the public, an effort that comes as they are also scrambling to brand Harris in the mind of voters after spending more than a year preparing to face Biden.

“That might be part of the strategy — take two unknowns and make the Republicans try to find some way to define them,” he said. “And just saying ‘They’re liberal, they’re liberal’ is not going to work. You have to show, not just tell.”

The image Democrats are planning to present is of a smiling, balding, bushy-eyebrowed governor who has backed popular legislation while maintaining a down-to-earth perspective.

In a joint statement celebrating Harris’s selection, former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama laid out Walz’s record passing laws on gun safety, abortion and paid family leave. They then pivoted to highlight character traits Democrats believe will help him win over some of the more moderate one-time Obama voters who have drifted away from Democrats in recent elections as Trump has dominated in small-town America.

“But Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect — not all that surprising considering the fact that he served in the National Guard for 24 years and worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach before being elected to Congress,” they wrote.

The former president himself reacted to the Walz pick with a two-word statement on social media: “THANK YOU!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Leavitt, the Trump campaign spokeswoman, confirmed the post referred to the vice-presidential choice.