Donald Trump said it himself during his August 8 press conference: No one knows what being a progressive means. That’s not true, of course. Plenty of people are well aware of what the term progressive means. It’s just that, like many things in electoral politics, the progressive label can shift with the wind.
Enter Tim Walz.
Years before Walz became a candidate for office in southern Minnesota, he embodied progressivism as an approach to life. As many people now know, he was a high school social studies teacher who was both a winning football coach and the first faculty advisor for his school’s gay-straight alliance.
These are the kinds of simple yet touching details that appear to have the whole country—well, most of it—fawning over Walz and labeling him the Midwestern dad of our dreams. His affability and empathy, as seen in his various roles as dad, soldier, teacher, and kind-hearted yet forceful governor of Minnesota, are indeed contagious.
We now also know that Walz is far more than some folksy Forrest Gump-type who just wandered on stage when we needed him most. Reporting from The New York Times indicates that Walz and a team of his advisors have been preparing him to run for higher office for more than a year, meaning he was ready to go when President Joe Biden stepped down from the presidential race in late July.
Walz is obviously a skilled strategist with a knack for doing the right thing even when no one is looking. He’s somehow both a “Norman Rockwell painting sprung to life,” as Democratic strategist David Axelrod said recently on National Public Radio, and an incredibly gifted politician.
We have been very lucky to have Walz in Minnesota, although I hesitate to heap even more uncritical praise on him. He’s nowhere near perfect. In 2022, for example, when the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers went on strike for more than three weeks in an effort to press the Minneapolis Public Schools to agree to a contract, Walz was notably absent.
The Minneapolis teachers strike ended on somewhat of a bitter note, as final negotiations took place in the early morning hours on a Friday, with some union members saying they hadn’t had time to fully read the proposed contract and were, in fact, not ready to sign off on it.
Walz never appeared on the picket line in support of teachers, perhaps because 2022 was a key midterm election year, with his own reelection campaign for governor on the line. (Appearing too supportive of the teachers union can be politically risky, even in a largely pro-labor state like Minnesota).
It could be argued, perhaps, that not publicly showing up for Minneapolis teachers was another savvy political move by Walz. He ultimately won a second term as a governor in November of that year—although his margin of victory was smaller than it had been when he first won in 2018.
Once Walz began his second term as governor, with Democratic majorities in both the state house and senate, he began enacting one of the nation’s most successful legislative sessions, from a progressive policy standpoint.
You’ve likely seen the laundry list of policies Walz and his fellow Democratic policymakers put in place, but it’s still worth mentioning once again. Walz codified abortion rights in the state constitution, which has clearly benefited not only Minnesota residents, but also residents of neighboring states such as Iowa and South Dakota.
In those states, as well as in Nebraska and Wisconsin, abortion care has been deeply compromised, if not altogether criminalized, meaning many people in need of an abortion must travel hundreds of miles to Minnesota to find this form of health care.
This matters a lot and likely helped position Walz to become the vice presidential nominee for Kamala Harris, who is known for her pro-choice advocacy. The efficacy of his progressive leadership extends far beyond Minnesota’s borders and is improving the lives of many Americans. This includes those seeking gender-affirming care, as Minnesota has become a destination in this realm as well.
Walz has also shown leadership in another very important way: returning land to Indigenous people. During the 2023 legislative session, Walz signed a bill into law allowing for the transfer of thousands of acres of land to tribal communities. This will take years to fully implement, but there have been early victories, including the recent return of the land that made up the Upper Sioux Agency State Park in southern Minnesota.
This park includes the land where, in 1862, the U.S.-Dakota War began, leading to the starvation and forced removal of many Dakota people from Minnesota in order to make way for white settlers. The Upper Sioux Agency land also holds the burial grounds for the thirty-eight Dakota men who were hanged by the U.S. government that same year in retaliation for the war.
These are just a few ways Walz has spent his tremendous political capital as governor of Minnesota. If he is elected along with Harris, his exit from the state will leave Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in charge—making her the first Indigenous woman in the nation to serve as governor.
It’s clear, then. Tim Walz is a progressive politician. If there is any doubt about what that means exactly, then look at his record, both before and after he ran for office and won.