Minnesota Governor and long-time LGBTQ+ Ally Tim Walz was announced as Kamala Harris’ running mate earlier this month.
After suspense pending between President Joe Biden dropping out of the race in a viral tweet following his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, the current VP received enough endorsements and recognition to become the primary nominee for the Democratic ticket in the 2024 presidential race. The question on everyone’s mind: Who is she going to pick as her running mate? The answer: Tim Walz!
Tim Walz has never been a household name. His celebrity has largely been localized to the midwestern region. That’s one of the reasons Harris picked him, but another major piece of the puzzle has been made clearer from his track record as Governor.
Some of Walz’s major accomplishments have been signing multiple pieces of progressive legislature into Minnesota state law. He has signed a bill into law that provides free breakfast and lunch to all Minnesotan students (and was only the fourth state in the country to sign a version of this bill into law), legalized adult cannabis use, and expunged nonviolent cannabis convictions, took action to protect tenant’s rights and signed a historic $1 billion investment into expanding access into affordable housing, expanded worker and voter rights, and created tax cuts in each term for working and middle-class families.
A person close to the process of picking Tim Walz as Harris’ running mate tells CNN she was “impressed by his authenticity.”
Some of Tim Walz’s career moves have also made him a prime candidate for Vice President. He is an army veteran with a teaching background. He served as an Army National Guardsman for 24 years. In 1999, Walz was a teacher in rural Minnesota, where he acted as a football coach and helped some of his students start a Gay-Straight Alliance, serving as its faculty coordinator. While serving in the armed forces, he developed his stance on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and voted to repeal the law under the Obama administration as a DFL Minnesota Congressman. As Governor, Walz has defended abortion access, signing protections into law for pregnant people who travel to Minnesota seeking abortion services. He has also supported access to in-vitro fertilization, with he and his wife conceiving both their children through IVF.
What really stands out in Tim Walz’s biography is his lifelong support for the LGBTQ+ community. In the last year alone, he has signed major protections into law concerning transgender healthcare. One of these major protections has been turning Minnesota into one of the country’s first sanctuary states for transgender patients seeking access to gender-affirming care across state lines, refusing to allow prosecution against individuals who are medically transitioning. Walz also signed legislation banning conversion therapy in Minnesota, a major victory for midwestern LGBTQ+ families.
The recent narrative between the Democratic and Republican tickets has unfolded through a strange bout of name-calling, which is typical for a Trump campaign, but unusual to see from Democrats. Tim Walz has spearheaded the “weird” narrative, by calling out Trump and Vance for their inappropriate rhetoric. The current Vice-Presidential picks are expected to debate on October 1. Already the candidates have made stances quite evident in regards to their positions on LGBTQ+ equality with Walz’s record and JD Vance’s complicated history. Trump has touted that Walz is “heavy into transgender.” This serves as a very bold statement from the candidate who picked a running mate that had a close friendship with a transgender person prior to his nomination and can be seen in photos of himself doing drag in college.
Photo courtesy of social media
