Read Eamon Whalen's piece here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/08/tim-walz-protests-2020-encouraged-vance-george-floyd-frey-minneapolis/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFRZx1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdg8ypBSSTTStTpOh7ci99PQVwucUVqBlO3DzVWfqKtSkwDBQFe0emaxnA_aem_PIYhRgCx7YSnxAH8OeEr3A

Introduction

As the dust settles from the latest presidential debate, one narrative has remained clear—the Republican Party is steadfast in its strategy of smearing Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, as far-left radicals. Recently, JD Vance claimed that, under Walz’s leadership as governor of Minnesota, he defunded the police and allowed rioters to wreak havoc in the streets. Yet, as Eamon Whalen points out in his article for Mother Jones, “Tim Walz Was No Protest Leader,” this portrayal of Walz is far from accurate.

Rather than being a progressive icon, Walz governed in a manner more aligned with establishment politics. As Whalen explains in his article, Walz responded to the unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder not by leading a movement for racial justice, but by calling in the National Guard to suppress the protests, speaking in the “feel your pain language” that we come to see so often from the Democratic Party in these instances. In fact, then-President Donald Trump praised Walz’s firm response to the protests, undermining the claim that he represents any radical break from the Democratic Party’s centrist trajectory. 

Despite this, Walz has been touted as a progressive alternative to the status quo, largely due to the work of Minnesota’s left-leaning legislative body, which has overshadowed his more moderate approach. So, is Walz truly a progressive leader, or has he simply benefitted from the political climate of a progressive state? We’ll dive into the protests that defined 2020, Walz’s role in managing the response, and how he has ascended to the national stage as Harris’s vice presidential pick.