Republicans quickly zeroed in on the liberal policies Tim Walz has signed into law in Minnesota, as well as his handling of unrest in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
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Former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, are likely to try to cast Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as too liberal for mainstream America.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota received a frosty welcome to the presidential race on Tuesday from Donald J. Trump and other Republicans who accused the Democratic vice-presidential candidate of mishandling riots during racial justice protests in 2020 and tried to portray him as an out-of-touch liberal.
After Vice President Kamala Harris revealed Mr. Walz as her running mate, the Trump campaign immediately released a statement attacking Mr. Walz as “dangerously liberal,” citing his support for expanding voting rights for former felons and other positions. The campaign also said his support for lowering carbon emissions and raising car tailpipe pollution standards represented an attempt to turn Minnesota into California.
“Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” said Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman. “If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: Just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”
Later on Fox News, Mr. Leavitt opened a more aggressive line of attack by falsely saying Mr. Walz wanted to “defund the police” and describing the streets of Minneapolis as “literally burned to the ground” during riots after a Minneapolis police officer was filmed murdering George Floyd in May 2020.
Mr. Trump’s allies followed suit. Referring to the violence, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said that “Harris egged it on and Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.”
“Harris-Walz: most left-wing ticket in American history,” Mr. DeSantis said in a social media post.
Mr. Walz has previously faced criticism for the Minneapolis unrest. Two days after Mr. Floyd’s death, as protests grew increasingly violent, the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, asked Mr. Walz to deploy the National Guard. But it was not until the next afternoon that Mr. Walz signed an executive order allowing the Guard to help cities, a delay that Republicans and other critics have focused on even as Mr. Walz has defended his actions.
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Source: nytimes.com
