Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has been gaining national attention after being named Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
But despite nearly two decades in public office, he has little national recognition.
The Washington Post interviewed voters in several key battleground states to find out what they think about the liberal governor, a former high school teacher and former National Guard soldier.
“I know he’s the governor of Minnesota, but I don’t know much else about him,” said Kunal Lobo, a recent physics doctorate graduate from Tucson, Ariz. “I did a quick Wikipedia search, but there’s not a lot of information about him. He seems like a pretty mainstream guy.”
But Susan Groff, 69, a retired teacher who lives in Phoenix, told The Washington Post that Walz’s Midwestern roots were appealing.
“Walz is more of a country guy than a big city guy, which may have been a factor in his selection. He’ll connect better with people in states that are only a plane ride away,” she said, drawing a comparison to the vice president, who cut his political teeth in far-left organizations in San Francisco.
But others familiar with Walz in Arizona, a key battleground state that President Biden won by just 0.3 percentage points in 2020, were less enthralled by his low-key resume.
“Walz let the Black Lives Matter riots destroy Minneapolis,” said Christian, 23, a nursing student from Phoenix, recalling the violent street protests that erupted in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, two years into Walz’s term as governor.
“We saw Target get looted and we saw very little police response.”
In Ohio, home state of Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, voters in the state who had actually heard of Walz offered a variety of comments.
“I knew who Waltz was, but he’ll help Trump win. He makes Tim Kaine look attractive,” said Reggie, 32, a policy worker from Columbus, referring to Hillary Clinton’s lackluster running mate selection in 2016.
“This choice is a concession to the Twitter left,” he added.
Gary, 29, a Trump supporter who works in Cleveland, said his only contact with Waltz was a chance encounter several years ago at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
“He definitely won’t help Kamala win. She’s screwed. Trump is back my buddy. Can’t wait for gas to be $1.80 again so we can all put more money in our pockets.”
Michigan voters, located north in the Buckeye State, were somewhat more divided, but even Trump haters had never heard of Walz.
“I don’t know who Tim Walz is, but he’s better than Trump, so get out, Tim!” said Alicia, a 28-year-old veterinary student and Harris supporter from Lansing.
When asked if she had heard of the vice presidential candidate, Sabrina, a single mother who works behind the counter at a grocery store outside Ann Arbor, she had no answer.
“Who is that? Oh, no, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of him,” she said, recalling that he is the governor of Minnesota.
A woman strolling through the Ann Arbor Street shopping district in the affluent neighborhood of Dexter, Michigan, said all she knew about him was that he was governor of Minnesota and that he “will be the new vice president.”
The Washington Post’s tour of the Rust Belt states continues in Wisconsin, where residents of America’s dairy belt have a low opinion of their neighboring governor.
“I’m not familiar with his record,” said David Kapanke, 65. “He’s not as noteworthy to me as most Democratic governors or even Republican governors in the Midwest.”
Jim Brauller, 50, was furious that Harris chose Waltz as her running mate and said he was “baffled” by her decision.
“All he has brought us is the horrific George Floyd riots, a state with just 10 electoral votes that has consistently voted for the Democratic candidate since President Nixon, and far-left views that are outside the beliefs of a typical American,” he complained.
“She could have gone wide and it wasn’t too bad.”
At Vance’s rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday, not many people were familiar with Vance, who was recently selected as Trump’s vice presidential nominee in 2024.
“We were watching the news thinking she might be going out with Josh Shapiro. So we don’t have any background knowledge on that, but we’re going to study up to find out what’s going on.”
As for the talk that Walz is the one who started the trend, started by Vance, of calling Trump supporters “wackos,” Brian Shine, 46, who works at a golf club in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, thinks the attack line misses the point.
“I don’t see what’s weird about a guy like JD, who married a wonderful woman and had three amazing kids. He served his country in the Marines. There’s nothing weird about that. Waltz’s idea of normal is a guy having kids, importing 12 million illegal immigrants and burning down cities. That’s not normal,” he said.
Patricia Holding, who lives in the rural town of Mesquite, Nevada, said she feels the “weird” label is unnecessarily divisive in a Silver State community that is decidedly more conservative than Las Vegas and its suburbs.
“I don’t know if it’s appropriate to describe Republicans as weird,” she said. “There are good and bad things about both, so that’s why I’m undecided at this point. We have to somehow unite the country.”
