On Tuesday, the world finally learned who Vice President Kamala Harris would name as her 2024 running mate.
Many believed Harris would be tapping Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to join her ticket. Shapiro could have helped Harris lock up his home state of Pennsylvania, a key battleground state in 2024. What’s more, his reputation as a more moderate candidate could have helped her win over independents.
But to the shock of many, Harris tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead. Harris rejected what could have been her key to winning 2024 in favor of perhaps the most radical candidate available.
Walz is so radical that he’s devastated the state of Minnesota with his policy stances — these five in particular:
Soft on Crime: BLM Riots
Walz has faced intense criticism for his inability — or unwillingness — to stop the violent BLM riots that devastated Minneapolis and other Minnesota cities in 2020.
While the devastation was ongoing, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Walz, pleading for the National Guard to be brought in, as reported by National Review. But as the city burned, and as businesses were destroyed and lives lost, Walz failed to act.
“He did not say yes,” Frey said about the call. “He said he would consider it.”
Is Walz an extremist?
Walz didn’t mobilize National Guard units until four days after buildings began burning — perhaps out of fear of angering the far-left, pro-BLM agitators egging on, and making excuses for, the riots, which all originated as “racial justice” protests.
According to The New York Times, in Minnesota alone, the 2020 riots burned 1,500 businesses and buildings (including a Minneapolis police station), caused $500 million in property damage, injured “many” individuals and killed “at least” three people.
As National Guardsman were gearing up to move in, Walz took time to quiz its leaders about “diversity and inclusion training” and refused to work with any Republican lawmakers on coordinating the response effort, according to the National Review.
“Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and elected leaders identified with the causes promoted by the demonstrators, causing them to lose sight of their responsibility to protect the public from criminal acts committed during the riots,” a Minnesota senate report concluded.
Driver’s Licenses for Illegals
Walz’s treatment of illegal immigration should concern voters wanting an end to the ongoing border crisis.
Back in 2023, Walz signed a bill into law giving illegal immigrants the right to receive a driver’s license in Minnesota, according to CBS News.
Many Minnesotans were concerned not just over how the bill might incentivize illegals to move to the state, but also at how it might undermine Minnesota’s election integrity.
Given Minnesota’s automatic voter registration for all driver’s license recipients, the law could give illegals the ability to vote.
The Center of the American Experiment, a conservative Minnesota think tank, explained the problem thoroughly in an extensive 2023 report.
Though non-citizen voting is still illegal, it remains unclear how the state would enforce its rules, given that illegals’ driver’s licenses have no special mark. Republicans requested such an identifier on illegal immigrant driver’s licenses, but Democrats refused.
“The driver’s license bill specifically prohibits the Department of Public Safety from sharing this information with any other agency, including the Secretary of State, preventing the cross-checking of new licensees with the voter database,” the report said.
“House Democrats are relying completely on the honor system to prevent a non-citizen from canceling out your vote.”
Radical Transgender Policy
There is perhaps no area in which Walz is more radical than in policy related to sex and gender.
According to the New York Post, Walz signed the “Trans Refuge” bill in 2023. The bill prevented Minnesota officials from enforcing out-of-state arrest warrants, subpoenas or other extradition requests for those who come to Minnesota to receive “gender-affirming care.”
He also signed a bill protecting the controversial practice of “gender-affirming care,” i.e. puberty blockers, surgeries and hormone therapies often used on individuals under the age of consent (and therefore considered by many a form of extreme child abuse).
Radical Abortion Policy: Up Until Birth … and After
Minnesota boasts some of the most radical abortion policies in the nation, thanks to Walz’s leadership.
According to TIME, Walz signed a bill enshrining the right to abortion into state law after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. There are no restrictions on what stage an abortion can be sought out, i.e. the state allows abortion up until birth.
According to Just the News, the state under Walz’s leadership has not only allowed the killing of babies up until birth but also after.
In 2021, five Minnesota infants were born alive after failed abortions. Two of those were then provided “comfort care,” but none received life-saving care, according to the report.
The Minnesota Department of Health reported on the five deaths as part of a policy requiring the reporting of born-alive victims of abortion.
However, following the controversy, in 2023 Walz and the Democrat-controlled state legislature eliminated the reporting requirement.
Who knows how many “born-alive” babies have been killed since?
Inflation-Causing Fossil-Fuel Restrictions
Walz is a radical when it comes to energy as well. The Democrat has supported various Green New Deal-esque anti-fossil-fuel policies throughout his career.
According to the Daily Wire, while in the U.S. House of Representatives, Walz voted for the 2009 Waxman-Markley cap-and-trade bill, which sought to limit the amount of fossil fuels companies can use, regardless of how many cost increases such restrictions could cause for American consumers.
Walz also instituted California-esque emissions standards in the state of Minnesota. These restrictions forced car manufacturers and dealers to stock more electric vehicles, regardless of consumer demand.
Walz also signed legislation last year forcing Minnesota utility companies to move to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2040, according to the Daily Wire.
As the American Enterprise Institute noted in a 2019 report, renewables like wind and solar are unreliable, intermittent and costly. A rapid ban on fossil fuels in favor of renewables could very well hurt the poor and lead to energy shortages.
