Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the newly announced running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, has worked with his state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to enact an ambitious agenda of liberal policies: free college tuition for low-income students, free meals for schoolchildren, legal recreational marijuana and protections for transgender people.
“You don’t win elections to bank political capital,” Walz wrote last year about his approach to governing. “You win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”
Republicans have slammed these policies as big-government liberalism and complained that Walz has taken a hard left turn since he represented a politically divided district in Congress years ago.
Here is an overview of where Walz stands on some key issues.
Abortion
Walz signed a bill last year that guaranteed Minnesotans a “fundamental right to make autonomous decisions” about reproductive health care on issues such as abortion, contraception and fertility treatments.
Abortion was already protected by a Minnesota Supreme Court decision, but the new law guarded against a future court reversing that precedent as the U.S. Supreme Court did with Roe v. Wade, and Walz said this year that he was also open to an amendment to the state’s constitution that would codify abortion rights.
Another bill he signed legally shields patients, and their medical providers, if they receive an abortion in Minnesota after traveling from a state where abortion is banned.
“Abortion is health care,” he said on CNN in March, adding: “I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more. And I think the biggest thing is, listen to women, listen to what they’re saying.”
Climate change
Walz’s administration has set a goal for Minnesota to rely on 100% renewable electricity by 2040. He signed legislation that directs officials to prioritize the creation of renewable energy facilities in the same communities that previously had fossil-fuel plants.
During his reelection campaign for governor in 2022, he said that he wanted electric vehicles to account for 20% of cars on Minnesota roads by 2030, and that he wanted the state to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. His administration has adopted stricter limits on tailpipe emissions, which effectively require auto manufacturers to make more electric or hybrid vehicles or otherwise improve fuel efficiency.
He recently announced a $200 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions in the food system, including those generated from farming, supermarkets and organic waste processing facilities.
He has argued that it is possible to “create a clean energy future where we can protect our water, protect our land and do that in a manner that grows the economy.”
Democracy
He has condemned the attempts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election, including his repeated lie that he won Minnesota. “That is an affront to democracy,” Walz said in May. “That is absolutely a line that cannot be crossed.”
Last year, Walz signed a bill establishing automatic voter registration, letting 16- and 17-year-olds preregister to vote so that they are on the rolls when they turn 18, and allowing people to put themselves on a permanent list for absentee ballots.
He signed another bill this year that prohibits voter suppression, including any action that “results in a disparate burden” on a minority group, even if the burden is unintentional.
That legislation provided funding for local governments to open polling locations on college campuses and established criminal penalties for using “deepfakes” to try to influence an election.
Economic policy
Walz and Minnesota’s Democratic legislative majorities have enacted progressive economic policies such as providing free college tuition for low-income students, offering free meals for schoolchildren, and instituting paid medical and family leave.
His budgets have provided for tax rebates for low- and middle-income Minnesotans and have funded a child tax credit for low-income families, alongside tax increases on gas and on investment income for wealthy taxpayers.
In 2020, Walz signed a bipartisan measure that set aside $1.9 billion in bond funding for local construction and renovation projects, such as housing, roads and water infrastructure. In 2023, he approved an additional $2.6 billion in infrastructure spending.
Immigration
Walz supports a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. In a 2021 letter to Democratic leaders in Congress, he urged such a path for “Dreamers” brought to the United States as children, for essential workers, for people whose countries are in crisis and for the families of those immigrants.
As a member of Congress years ago, he voted for stricter screening of refugees, but changed his position when he ran for governor. During his 2022 reelection campaign, he denounced his Republican opponent for saying that accepting immigrants without enough resources threatened “Minnesota’s fabric of life.” Walz said, “He’s 100% wrong morally, and he’s 100% wrong economically and culturally.”
He signed a bill last year that made undocumented immigrants eligible for Minnesota driver’s licenses, which he argued would make roads safer by reducing unlicensed driving. He does not have a clear public record on border-security policies.
Israel and Gaza
Walz has not spoken extensively about Israel or the Gaza Strip.
In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, he condemned Hamas while saying he supported a deal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, writing on social media: “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. We cannot let terrorists like Hamas win.”
But he has been largely silent since then, even after calls from protesters in Minnesota for the state to divest from Israeli companies.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
