![]() He was a football coach who knows the language of progressivism, and a geography teacher whose students under his tutelage predicted the Rwanda genocide. He didn’t go to fancy schools, but he spent time in China. He represented a Republican-leaning district for a dozen years. He was a command sergeant major in the National Guard, and an early supporter of gay rights. He’s a marksman who signed gun control legislation. He can win over a crowd at FarmFest, and at the National Congress of American Indians. That means we may - unconsciously even - associate him with some of the toughest years in recent Minnesota history.īut to Democrats in other states, Walz must seem like a unicorn. To be sure, for some Minnesotans, the novelty of Walz may have worn off.Īnd even if you admire Walz’s leadership, he’s governed through some of Minnesota’s worst moments, from police killings to riots and the pandemic. The pitch is that Midwesterners cherish minding their own damned business when it comes to their neighbors’ health care or what they do in their own homes (e.g., smoke pot and read banned books if that’s your thing).Ĭonsider Walz’s appeal at a rally-the-troops dinner like he’s doing in Indiana tonight: He can show them a glimmer of light at the end of the cherry red tunnel, especially if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. He can also sell Minnesota to America as a refuge from the bonkers - to borrow a word local Republicans are using about Minnesota - politics of red states, which are busy outlawing abortion and gender-affirming care.Ī Walz theme during this national outreach is freedom. So, at the operating engineers convention, he sold Minnesota’s commitment to collective bargaining rights and resulting high wages. Paul Wellstone and Al Franken as they navigated national political interest.Īt near full employment and a bevy of construction projects financed during the recent legislative session, we’re badly in need of skilled tradespeople. “That’s the job of a governor - to promote Minnesota and recruit people to move here,” said Jeff Blodgett, a DFL operative who advised Sens. Walz and his team are trying to do a few things: ![]() ![]() I talked to DFL operatives with ties to Walz about why he’s raising his national profile, and the short answer is that there’s plenty of good reasons to do it, and no real downside. He is raising his national profile, however, and with it, Minnesota’s. ![]() Throw in some national media appearances, and an viral drone video of him signing the most significant legislation in memory, and you’ve got a lot of folks in Minnesota politics with raised eyebrows. Some weeks later, he spoke at the national convention of the International Union of Operating Engineers, a lunch bucket and hard hat crowd if there ever was one - again in south Florida. Morgan, talking about climate change just after he signed a bill mandating carbon-free energy by 2040. In March, he was at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Miami Beach with fancy people from the National Security Council and J.P. I expect a joke about Big 10 basketball, before a speech hopped up on Diet Mountain Dew that will rally heartland Dems hoping to turn a red state purple. Tim Walz will be in Indiana tonight, keynoting the state Democratic Party’s “Hoosier Hospitality Dinner.”
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