Tim Walz: Where He Stands on the Issues

August 28, 2024

Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, his progressive policy record is in the spotlight as the Trump campaign casts him as a “radical leftist.”

Known as a champion of progressivism, Walz’s stances on several critical issues—including abortion, climate change, and immigration—offer a potential preview of how a Harris-Walz Administration might approach challenging policy questions.

As governor of Minnesota, he pushed an ambitious agenda that included free school meals, tax cuts for the middle class, and goals for tackling climate change. His selection was celebrated by top progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

However, Walz is relatively unknown on the national stage. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll released Tuesday found 71% of U.S. adults have never heard of the midwestern governor or are unsure how to rate him.

For those just beginning to learn about Walz, here is a guide to where he stands on some key issues.

Abortion

Walz has spoken out in support of abortion rights—“Abortion is health care,” he said on CNN in March—and signed several pieces of legislation protecting reproductive rights.

As governor, he signed a bill that enshrined the right to abortion into the state’s statutes, making Minnesota the first state legislature to codify protections into law in 2023 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade months earlier. The bill also included protections for other reproductive health care, including contraception and fertility treatments. Abortion was already protected in the state by a 1995 Minnesota supreme court decision, but the new law was meant to safeguard against future courts potentially overturning that ruling.

“Today, we are delivering on our promise to put up a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom,” Walz said in a press release after signing the bill. “Here in Minnesota, your access to reproductive health care and your freedom to make your own health care decisions are preserved and protected.”

Also in 2023, Walz signed a bill that shields patients traveling to Minnesota for abortion care—and the medical providers who serve them—from legal attacks and criminal penalties other states that restrict access might try to levy against them. That same day, he also signed a bill that bans the practice of conversion therapy and another that protects people seeking or providing gender-affirming health care in Minnesota.

Climate change

In recent years, Walz has become one of the country’s most skillful advocates for tackling climate change. His administration is aiming to move Minnesota to 100% clean energy by 2040, and he signed legislation in 2023 that encourages utilities to establish renewable energy facilities in communities that used to have fossil-fuel-generating plants.

In recent months, he has signed a bill that will shorten and streamline the process for permitting renewable energy projects and he has announced a $200 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cut climate pollution from Minnesota food systems.

“As I sign this legislation, communities from one end of our state to the other are looking at months of rebuilding after an extreme weather event exacerbated by climate change. This is a measure that will help protect our environment and get the clean energy projects that are going to help fight climate change in motion,” Walz said in a June press release about the bill that streamlines the permitting process. “Together we’re taking meaningful steps to combat climate change.”

U.S.-Mexico border

Hailing from a northern state, Walz has not been a major voice in U.S.-Mexico border policy discussions. However, his past record on immigration issues suggests that he is likely to push for reform that offers a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented migrants.

As Minnesota’s governor, he signed bills that provided health insurance coverage regardless of immigration status and made undocumented immigrants eligible for state driver’s licenses. He also signed a bill that allowed the state’s nearly 81,000 undocumented immigrants to receive free tuition at a state university.

In 2021 he urged Democratic leaders in Congress to prioritize creating a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants, including “Dreamers” brought to the U.S. as children, essential workers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, and their families.

And although he voted for stricter screenings for Syrian and Iraqi refugees while serving in Congress as a House member from Minnesota, as governor he later authorized the state government to consent to refugee resettlement: “The inn is not full in Minnesota,” he said in 2019.

Walz has offered a preview of how he’ll campaign on border issues, making several television appearances where he aligns himself with Harris in trying to flip the script on immigration by criticizing former President Donald Trump. “There’s no reason someone seeking asylum, which we will always be a guiding light for, should have to wait seven years to have that adjudicated,” Walz told CNN on July 30, signaling his support for a failed bipartisan border funding bill negotiated in the Senate that would have allowed migrants to be placed in a supervision program and have their asylum case decided within 90 days. Trump urged House Republicans to kill the deal in early 2024. “He's not interested in solving the problem,” Walz added.

He’s also criticized Trump’s pledge to finish construction of a wall along the southern border, claiming that it won’t curb the rise in illegal border crossings: “I always say, let me know how high it is. If it's 25 feet, then I'll invest in the 30-foot ladder factory,” Walz told CNN. “That's not how you stop this. You stop this using electronics, you stop it using more border control agents, and you stop it by having a legal system that allows for that tradition of allowing folks to come here, just like my relatives did to come here, be able to work and establish the American dream.”

Israel-Gaza

Walz has not spoken extensively about the Israel-Gaza conflict, though his stance appears broadly aligned with the Biden-Harris Administration: “The situation in Gaza is intolerable,” Walz told CNN in March. “And I think trying to find a solution, a lasting two-state solution, certainly the President's move towards humanitarian aid and asking us to get to a ceasefire…”

While in Congress, Walz supported pro-Israel resolutions, including voting to condemn a United Nations resolution affirming that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. He also traveled to Israel as part of a diplomatic trip to the Middle East in 2009 and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Democratic Majority for Israel, an advocacy group that supports pro-Israel policies, praised the Walz pick shortly after the announcement.

Walz condemned Hamas following its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel during which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. He also supported a deal to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza as Israel launched a devastating assault on the region after Oct. 7. “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people,” he wrote on social media on Oct. 20. “We cannot let terrorists like Hamas win.” Several progressive Democrats who have been critical of Israel have also come out in support of Walz as Harris’ running mate.

Gun control

Walz’s stance on gun control has changed over the years. A gun owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, Walz had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) while in Congress—but that later turned into an “F.” During his first campaign for governor in 2018, he began to champion more gun-control measures. After a gunman opened fire in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and killed 17 people, Walz publicly expressed support for an assault weapons ban.

“I had an A rating from the NRA. Now I get straight F’s. And I sleep just fine,” he said in a post on X on July 27.

In 2023, he signed several gun-control measures into law, expanding universal background checks to private party transfers of pistols and semiautomatic weapons, as well as creating a “red flag” law that allows a family member, guardian, city or county attorney, or police chief to intervene and ask a court to take weapons away from someone if they’re at high risk of hurting themselves or others.

“As a veteran, gun-owner, hunter, and dad, I know basic gun safety isn’t a threat to the Second Amendment—it’s about keeping our kids safe,” Walz said in a press release at the time. “There’s no place for weapons of war in our schools, churches, banks, or anywhere else people are just trying to live their lives.”

Economy

As governor, Walz advocated for a historically progressive overhaul of Minnesota’s economy, passing a series of reforms that some progressives hope could be a model for the federal government if Democrats win control of the House and Senate.

Walz pushed for pro-labor legislation, signing a bill into law last year that established statewide sick and medical leave, banned non-compete agreements, and added worker safety requirements. The United Auto Workers (UAW), which has endorsed Harris and is one of the nation’s largest union groups, celebrated Harris’ decision to name Walz as her running mate: "Tim Walz doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk," the UAW wrote on social media. "From delivering for working-class Americans to standing with the UAW on our picket line last year, we know which side he's on."

As governor, Walz also signed the Local Jobs and Projects Plan, which gave roughly $1.9 billion to support construction and renovation projects, including affordable housing projects.

His administration provided tax cuts to many Minnesota residents, while raising taxes on some corporations and high earners. In addition, he provided rebates known as “Walz checks” for low- and middle-income families, which are worth up to $1,300 in some cases, and he championed a statewide child tax credit of up to $1,750 per child.

Paid leave, free school meals, and other issues

Walz has taken a progressive stance on several family issues. In 2023, he signed a bill that provides paid family and medical leave into law, saying at the time that the move is “ensuring Minnesotans no longer have to make the choice between a paycheck and taking time off to care for a new baby or a sick family member.” The program, which will start in 2026, will allow workers up to 12 weeks a year off with partial pay to take care of a newborn baby or a sick relative, and up to 12 weeks to recover if they themselves are seriously ill.

A former teacher, Walz has also supported funding for a program that provides free school meals to children. In 2023, Walz signed into law the North Star Promise Scholarship Program to provide public higher education in Minnesota tuition-free for eligible low-income students.

Walz has also signed legislation legalizing recreational marijuana and establishing a board that would expunge or resentence lower-level cannabis convictions.

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