FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Not far from the stand selling fried hot dogs and just around the corner from the Minnesota Vikings booth, sits one of the most popular exhibits at the fair in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, one of the nation's largest state fairs.
Long lines formed at the “Never Waltz” booth, sponsored by the grassroots political party Action 4 Liberty, on Thursday as visitors waited for a chance to spin a roulette wheel featuring some of the Democratic vice presidential nominee's most controversial policies.
After enjoying the spin, spectators will be able to go home with either a “Never Waltz” handheld fan or a T-shirt featuring former President Donald Trump holding a copy of the Constitution and the words “Never Surrender.”
“The wheel keeps turning. It never stops,” Action 4 Liberty organizer Jesse Smith told the Post, adding that between 5,000 and 10,000 fair-goers stop by the booth each day and that 90 percent of the responses are positive.
Following Vice President Kamala Harris' selection of Waltz as her running mate earlier this month, the newly decorated “Never Waltz” booth for 2024 depicts the 60-year-old governor standing in front of a burning Minneapolis skyline while holding a tampon with the words “Men's Bathroom” written on it — a reference to his support for men's bathroom use and his response to the 2020 riots following the police killing of George Floyd.
Walz is the first Minnesotan to appear on a major party ticket since Walter Mondale won reelection in a landslide victory over Ronald Reagan in 1984, and Republicans and Democrats are excited for different reasons.
“Minnesotans have lived under Walz's dictatorship, so they're really fired up and ready for change,” Minnesota Republican Party Vice Chair Donna Bergstrom told The Washington Post at the party's booth, appearing to refer to the governor's COVID-19 restrictions, which include a hotline set up so nosy neighbors can snitch on each other.
“On the one hand, we're really happy that he's on the national stage so that people across America can really see how unprepared he is to be vice president.”
May Lo Xiong, an unlikely Republican congressional candidate seeking to represent Washington, D.C., from a district that includes St. Paul, said she was “hopeful” that “Republicans will vote in large numbers” along with independents and Democrats to censure the state leadership.
But in Minnesota, a state where Republicans have won just three presidential elections since World War II, some visitors wearing Harris-Waltz shirts at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party booth competed to stick blue pins on a map of the state to show their support for the candidate.
“There's a lot of excitement, but I don't think it's just him,” said DFL booth staffer Julius Jones, who described Walz as a “regular guy” and likened him to “the old man next door.”
“This is going to be a historic election, so everyone is counting on Kamala,” he added.
Vote for Waltz. Diana Glebova/NY Post
“I think he has a base of support here,” fellow poll worker Pam Bundy added of the governor.
“What I'd like to see is him picking up votes outside of Minnesota,” she said, referring to the key battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan that both sides are focusing on.
Pam Parker, a member of the DFL caucus, told The Washington Post that Harris and Walz are the most valuable junior candidates on the Democratic ticket.
“They're supposed to have the energy, and poor Biden just didn't have it and looked drained,” Parker said. “His brain was functioning normally, but I don't think people give it enough credit.”
Other patrons at the DFL booth agreed that the party's ticket is more of a new packaging than a departure from Biden.
Libertarian workers were also anti-Walz, but they also had no sympathy for Trump supporters.
Minnesota Libertarian Party Treasurer Joseph Gamache argued that his party's candidate, Chase Oliver, could garner support from voters who supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before he dropped out and endorsed Trump last week.
