An Army Vet, a School Teacher, a Swiftie: Who is Tim Walz?

GUEST POST BY ELIZABETH HUNTLEY

No one knew who Tim Walz was a week ago. While it’s my obligation to approach a newly named VP with an open mind, I’m afraid that’s impossible to do after learning Walz was one of the COVID tyrants I loathe. I come armed now with heavy bias. In my opinion, by far, these are the worst types of people.

For those unaware: In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz's administration established a COVID-19 hotline for residents to report neighbors and businesses caught violating pandemic-related restrictions. The move was framed as a measure to enforce compliance with safety protocols, but really, it’s just politicians emboldening a culture of overreaching surveillance and distrust, essentially turning citizens into informants against each other. The hotline allowed anonymous reporting of gatherings, non-compliant mask wearers, among other infractions. And, well, that’s all I need to know. Never mind him signing the bill requiring tampon dispensers to be included in boys' bathrooms.

Because my opinion is heavily (and unapologetically) slanted, please welcome Elizabeth Huntley stepping in as guest editor to highlight other aspects of his life and career, including (surprise, surprise!) a love of Taylor Swift.

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It's official: newly-minted presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen her VP, and it's Minnesotan Governor Tim Walz. You might not have heard of him – I'm a political science obsessive, and I hadn't. If you haven't either, you're not alone: a recent ABC and Ipsos poll showed that the majority of Americans do not know who Walz is. So, who is he? And, perhaps more importantly, without name recognition, what does he bring to the Democratic ticket?

While he might not be popular nationally, he is popular at home. Walz was first elected as a Democratic representative for Minnesota's first district in 2006 and went on to win the seat by a comfortable majority every two years until 2016. In 2018, he was elected to be the state's Governor 53.9 percent of Minnesota's vote – the largest margin a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate won by in more than three decades.

In 2024, 55% of Minnesotans told pollsters that they thought he was doing a good job in the state's highest elected office. However, only 22% of Minnesotans, when asked, said they thought he would make a good VP pick for Harris.

What Does He Stand For?

Interestingly, he is the first person on a Democratic presidential ticket since Jimmy Carter not to have attended law school or become a lawyer. In fact, he's a former school teacher and the coach of the high school's football team. Hailing from Nebraska, he joined the military and worked a manufacturing job for the Army National Guard. He served in the military for 24 years in total, posting in Arkansas, Texas, the Arctic Circle, New Ulm, and at home in Minnesota. 

He is trained in heavy artillery and has been awarded the Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year. When he was first sworn into office in 2006, he was, at that time, the highest-serving military officer to ever hold elected office. It looks like he'll be capitalizing on his military service during the presidential campaign: He tweeted in July, before his nomination, that "Kamala Harris won't cut your vets benefits – but Donald Trump will." He also tweeted in July that "I'm a Legion guy. They're not talking in the Legion club about banning books. They're wondering why Trump and Vance want to cut our VA benefits."

His father was also a schoolteacher, and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. He grew up in a small Nebraskan town called Valentine.

Ok, So What About His Politics?

Walz's initiation into politics began when he volunteered for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and later became a member of Vets for Kerry. His policy positions lean very progressive – I'll set them out for you here:

Walz has also been very pro-choice and pro-abortion rights. He famously has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood due to his consistent position on this issue. He's also spoken out against rumors of Republican plans to limit access to IVF, tweeting this week that "when my wife and I decided to have children, we spent years going through fertility treatments. I remember praying each night for a call with good news or the agony when we heard the treatments hadn't worked. When we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope."

He is also almost solely responsible for legalizing cannabis in Minnesota, having taken a strong position on the issue throughout his time in the House and the Governor's mansion. He included it as a major part of his platform when he first ran for governor in 2017 and ultimately signed a bill into law on August 1, 2023. Referring to the failure of the war on drugs, he said he has "an opportunity in Minnesota to replace the current failed policy with one that creates tax revenue, grows jobs, builds opportunities for Minnesotans, protects Minnesota kids, and trusts adults to make personal decisions based on their personal freedoms."

But not all of his policies are the ones you'd expect from a left-leaning Democrat. He is, and always has been, a supporter of gun rights. He is a seriously long-standing veteran, after all. Alongside his 100% score from Planned Parenthood, he has received the coveted A-grade from the NRA Political Victory Fund several times during his political career. His support for gun rights faltered slightly after the Parkland School Shooting when Walz announced he would donate the money he'd received from the NRA to the Intrepid Heroes Fund. In 2023, he signed into law a public safety bill that establishes universal background checks and red-flag laws in Minnesota.

In other military-related policy, Walz supported LGTBQ+ rights when he called for an end to the Armed Services' "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in 2009. He supported the Sexual Orientation Employment Nondiscrimination Act and the Respect For Marriage Act. In 2023, he signed bills that banned the practice of conversion therapy and protected gender-affirming care in Minnesota. An LGBT Rights Organization has given him a 90% rating.

Of course, as a former public school teacher, he also has strong views on education. He supports funding for public school buildings and merit pay for public school teachers. 

How Does This All Go Down With Voters?

Voters are less keen on Walz than they were on other potential Democratic VP picks, such as Mark Kelly and Josh Shapiro. He polled behind both of them at only 17%. Kelly received a 31% favorability rating, and Shapiro got 25%.

However, the VP announcement has caused Walz to shoot up in the polls. A Yougov poll taken on August 6 showed a national 32% favorability rating for Walz and a 19% unfavorability rating – a 13-point improvement on a poll taken just a few days before. Those numbers still aren't particularly inspiring, but we'll have to wait and see if they keep rising. JD Vance, Trump's VP pick, had a similar boost in favorability immediately after he was picked.

One theory as to why Harris picked Walz despite his lack of name recognition: new polling shows he is particularly popular with younger voters and trade unionists – two blocks that Democrats will absolutely need on their side in order to beat Trump in November. He also polls better than the national Democratic average among white voters with college degrees. Interestingly, he also performs better than the national Democratic average among white men – a key demographic for President Trump.

He is also popular among working class voters in the Midwest – another absolutely crucial group, and won which arguably won President Trump his first victory in 2016.

Another reason, completely separate from Walz himself, could simply be about his defining characteristics, which we imagine he will make a big deal of during the campaign: an Ipsos poll found nearly 90 percent of Americans having a favorable view of military veterans and 80 percent have a favorable view of school teachers.

Overall, 35% of voters told pollsters this week that they believed Walz was a good choice for VP, while 16% said he was a bad pick. Among Democrats, the numbers were higher—61% told voters they approved of Harris' choice. New polls also show that younger Republicans have a more favorable view of Walz than older Republicans, reinforcing the notion that he is popular among the younger generations on both sides of the aisle.

So how does Walz compare to Vance? Former President Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, has a higher disapproval rating  - 43% - and a higher approval rating - 34% - than Walz, so it's a bit hard to tell. A Marist poll found that Walz has lower name recognition than Vance but that Vance has a higher unfavorability rating from voters – so again, it's anyone's game. Thirty-four percent of respondents said they view Vance favorably, while 43 percent view him unfavorably, according to the poll.

Overall, Harris's VP pick has so far seen her pull ahead of Trump in the polls. Her campaign is up 4 points from when she first announced her candidacy, and this week, she pulled ahead of Donald Trump in a 51-48 split.

He’s A Swiftie

Walz has some other quirks, too. He's a Taylor Swift fan, for example – which may contribute to speculation about the role the pop megastar might play in swaying voters in November. Walz famously posted a photo of his cat screaming, commenting that this was his pet's response to not being able to get tickets to Swift's Eras Tour. Swifties all over the internet commented on this aspect of Walz as soon as his nomination was announced on Tuesday.

The cat is a setpiece for Walz, contributing to his likeability among those who do know him in his home state. He often posts pictures of him with the cat on X, formerly known as Twitter.