Democratic Party United States Politicians

"If you love this country as much as I love this country, and you're willing to die for this country, like I was willing to die for this country, we can find a way to work with each other. But I will tell you that it's not always that easy. I don't think Donald Trump, for example, loved this country. And that made it hard to work with him"

"When I was bleeding to death in my Black Hawk helicopter after I was shot down, I didn't care if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender, black, white or brown."

"Our troops know how to work together,they stand shoulder-to-shoulder to protect and defend this country. We surely in these chambers can do the same. So let's stop blaming each and other and let's get to work. Our men and women in uniform deserve nothing less."

"That day, and so many others when I served, illustrated the two most important lessons the military taught me: Never leave anyone behind—not on the battlefield and not in our country. And never put a service member in harm’s way without understanding the cost—the very real and very human cost—of war."

"America’s daughters are just as capable of defending liberty as her sons."

"You don’t have to suffer war injuries to understand how tough life can be."

"Parenthood isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic issue and an issue that affects all parents — men and women alike."

"If there’s anything that my ancestors’ service taught me, it’s the importance of protecting our founding values, including every American’s right to speak out. In a nation born out of an act of protest, there is nothing more patriotic than standing up for what you believe in, even if it goes against those in power."

"This is a truly awful hate crime that has no place anywhere in this nation. No one should be attacked because of the color of their skin or who they love. Jussie, please know that many people across IL and our country are sending love your way."

"Soccer today faces huge challenges as the FIFA scandal unfolds. Hope Solo continuing to play goalie for Team USA, just months before she will appear in court to face domestic violence charges, raises troubling questions about the state of the game."

"I don't think we would have gotten that across the finish line without all of her hard work. I think without her it wouldn't have happened, so she deserves a ton of credit for that."

"Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do...He’s slashed and burned the federal government to make room for a giant tax cut for billionaires like himself. I’ve sworn an oath to this country, I’ve flown in combat, I served in the Navy for 25 years. It appears to me the oath that Elon Musk stands by is the oath to billionaires to make their lives easier, not the American people, not veterans. He’s not a serious guy. He should go back to building rockets."

"We salute Commander Mark Kelly and his contributions to NASA as an extremely accomplished member of the astronaut corps and the final commander of the space shuttle Endeavour. . . . We deeply respect his achievements and his decision to focus on his family. We continue to send out our thoughts and prayers to Mark and his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as she makes a remarkable recovery. We know that Mark will continue to do great things for his country no matter what he chooses to do next."

"For millions of American women, reading the news this morning was like stepping into a time machine and going back 50 years, seeing the headlines and the photos of this all-male panel in the House talking about a woman's right to access birth control, and no women on the panel. It turns out the chairman of the House oversight committee decided he was not going to allow a young woman who had been asked by the minority to testify and tell her story--actually of a friend who had lost an ovary because of her lack of contraception coverage. So this 19-year-old woman was left to watch, like the rest of us, as all five men addressed the committee about how they supported efforts to restrict access to care. I am sure by now many of my colleagues here have seen this picture of this all-male panel, the picture that says a thousand words. It is one that most women thought was left behind when pictures only came in black and white."

"I’m honored to officially become the President Pro Tempore of the Senate today."

"We haven't [helped pay for schools, roads and even day care centers]. How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?"

"Before he was governor of Minnesota, before he was a member of Congress, and before he was a candidate for the next vice president of the United States, he was “Mr Walz,” a geography teacher at Mankato West High School, roughly 80 miles south of Minneapolis. In 1999, Walz agreed to be the faculty adviser for the school’s first ever gay-straight alliance (GSA). Walz and his wife Gwen, who also taught at the school, were a refuge for their LGBT+ students, alumni tell The Independent. Dozens of those former students are now campaigning for him to reach the White House."

"Like, I think that Tim Walz is a great guy and I think he's got a lot of good political instincts, and I think he did the best he could, given the situation he was in. But there is a huge difference between being an outsider who steps in to offer a populist message to the American people and being a, like, friendly Midwestern left-leaning governor Democrat who gets picked as a VP, but is still ultimately beholden to the messaging and policies of your neoliberal President-- or, Presidential candidate."

"If Governor Walz becomes our VP, I hope he could help bring some of this thinking [regarding permitting reform for renewable energy projects] to the federal level. . . . It would make an incredible difference in the nation’s progress on climate."

"He'll unleash HELL ON EARTH"

"Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has faced fresh scrutiny over his military service, and how he has characterized his record, in the weeks since he was selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. The attacks, spearheaded by his rival for the vice presidency who himself is a veteran, JD Vance, have dogged him since he first ran for Congress nearly two decades ago. Mr. Walz has forcefully defended his time in the Army National Guard. “I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Mr. Walz said this month. “And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record.”"

"The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school. Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education. He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High. Waltz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard at the rank of command sergeant major. He was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes a number of midsize cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Walz won election as governor in 2018 and re-election four years later. But Walz was unknown to many Americans when then-Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate in the summer of 2024, soon after she replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats' presidential nominee. Walz, during his three months as running mate, visually and vocally embraced the traditional role of political attack dog that has long been associated with vice presidential nominees. But Harris and Walz fell short, losing the November 2024 election to Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance, as the Democratic Party ticket was swept in all seven crucial battleground states."

"Federal prosecutors unveiled charges Thursday against another six people, accusing them of defrauding public assistance programs in Minnesota — including two men they allege traveled to the state for that express purpose. The latest indictments add fuel to a scandal that has now led to charges against more than 90 people who have been accused, and in many cases convicted, of bilking hundreds of millions of dollars from the Midwestern state, putting Gov. Tim Walz's administration in the hot seat and drawing attacks from President Trump. Thursday's charges focus on housing assistance and autism services. And the pandemic-era food aid fraud case that set off the scandal is still brewing."

"A straight, football-coaching national guardsman wasn’t the LGBT+ ally that Seth Elliot Meyer expected. But Meyer, who came out as queer in his freshman year of high school in 2000, admits he was wrong about Tim Walz. “I just sort of naively believed that someone who was a big, masculine dude with a deep voice was never someone who’s going to be on my side,” Meyer says. “As much as those younger students who were courageous enough to be out in those years, it was just as important to have those very kind of ‘normal,’ strong, straight, masculine allies backing us up.”"

"Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced on Monday that he's dropping his bid for a third term as governor amid stinging criticism of the unsuccessful 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee's handling of his state's massive welfare assistance fraud scandal. "The political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win," Walz charged in a statement. "But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all," the governor added. "Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences." "So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work," the governor announced.Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance."

"More than 90 people — most from Minnesota's large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation's largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers, and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion. Prosecutors said that some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists. "This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it," Walz told reporters last month, as he took responsibility for the scandal. The governor took actions to stop some of the suspected fraudulent payments, and ordered an outside audit of Medicaid billing in the state. But Trump repeatedly blasted Walz as "incompetent" and, during Thanksgiving, used a slur for developmentally disabled people to describe the governor. The scandal, which grabbed plenty of national attention over the past two months, went viral the past few weeks following the release of a video by 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal child-care funding to Minnesota."

"Minnesota is far from the only state that has grappled with allegations of public assistance fraud, especially scams targeting pandemic aid funds. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Minnesota faces a particularly large problem, pointing to 14 different Medicaid programs that the state has flagged for "significant fraud problems." He suggested total losses could reach into the billions. "The fraud is not small. It isn't isolated. The magnitude cannot be overstated," Thompson said at a press conference Thursday. "What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It's a staggering, industrial-scale fraud." Walz, whose administration has faced scrutiny for its handling of the issue, has vowed to crack down. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump has sharply criticized Minnesota — and he's lashed out at the state's large Somali-American community as most, but not all, of the defendants are of Somali descent."

"Walz launched a new fraud prevention program on Dec. 12, led by a former FBI agent. He applauded the new federal charges on Thursday. "This is exactly the type of strong action we need from prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are put behind bars," Walz said in a statement. "We will not tolerate fraud, and we will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught." James Clark, inspector general of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said in a statement Thursday the agency "has been moving more aggressively than ever to suspend payments where we see evidence of fraud." He also urged federal officials to share information with the agency, which oversees many of the programs that were hit by fraud allegations. "If there is evidence of Medicaid fraud, the state should be given the information so DHS can slam the door shut on payments to those individuals and businesses," Clark said."

"Reactions quickly began to pour in following the Walz announcement. "Good riddance," Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, said in a statement. Minnesota Republican state Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, released a statement saying, "Tim Walz and his staggering fraud could not outrun our investigations and the momentum we have in this race. He knows he will lose in November, and would rather give up than take responsibility. Anyone Walz handpicks to run for governor will own the fraud and failures of this administration. Our campaign is building the coalition necessary to stop the fraud, protect our kids, and make Minnesota prosper. As Governor, I will dismantle the years of fraud Democrats allowed and ensure our tax dollars work for Minnesotans." Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, another leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, took to social media to argue, "If Democrats think they can sweep Minnesota’s fraud scandal away by swapping out Tim Walz, they are wrong." "We need transformational change across state government that only comes with a Republican governor. I will deliver that no matter who the Democrats decide to run," Demuth emphasized. But Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement, "No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November." And Besehar praised Walz, a former DGA chair, as "a true leader who has delivered results that will make life better for Minnesota workers and families for years to come.""

"Effective July 2025, teacher licensing rules passed last year in Minnesota under Democrat Gov. Tim Walz will ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools. Walz is now the presidential running mate of current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. His resume includes a stint as a high school social studies teacher who sponsored a student queer sex club in 1999. Starting next July, Minnesota agencies controlled by Walz appointees will require teacher license applicants to affirm transgenderism and race Marxism. Without a teaching license, individuals cannot work in Minnesota public schools, nor in the private schools that require such licenses. The latest version of the regulations requires teachers to “affirm” students’ “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to receive a Minnesota teaching license: "The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves.""

"Walz’s first executive order as governor was to install a “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, council. Former Minnesota state legislator Allen Quist notes that “The radical Walz administration Department of Human Rights has also forced school districts to report student discipline by race and require equal outcomes (equity) in discipline. The results have been horrific chaos and violence.” During Walz’s governorship, student achievement in Minnesota has gone from among the best in the nation to declining more sharply than anywhere else in the nation, according to the Minneapolis-based Center for the American Experiment. The most recent scores show Minnesota fourth graders dipping below the national average in reading for the first time ever recorded on the well-respected Nation’s Report Card. Research has found for decades that there is no link between teacher certification and student achievement. People who enter teaching with a degree other than in education tend to have significantly higher personal and student academic performance."

"Minnesota’s teacher requirements therefore force Christians, Muslims, Jews, and adherents to other religions to violate their faith and endanger their hopes of eternal life in order to work in government-run schools. Forcing people to testify to beliefs they don’t hold, often called compelled speech, is clearly unconstitutional, he said: “They’re essentially requiring people to affirm these ideas that they don’t really believe, in many cases, as a condition of being a public school teacher or being part of a program to be a licensed public school teacher. You can’t force that kind of speech, you can’t require adherence to ideas that aren’t believed.” The 13-member board that made these changes is appointed by the governor, whom for the last six years has been Walz. So, Walz is poised to make similar bigoted, totalitarian, and unconstitutional policies across the United States should he be elected vice president."

"Walz has emerged as a vocal critic of the second Trump administration, prompting a feud between the two. After a Democratic lawmaker was killed by a gunman and a second was seriously injured earlier this year, Trump said he would not “waste time” calling the “whacked out” governor. Walz’s growing national profile both makes him a high-profile target in the 2026 midterms worthy of trying to defeat, GOP strategists say — but Trump’s intense focus on the race could also backfire given the state’s political makeup. “Having Donald Trump being active in the race for a particular Republican may not be helpful, but it would be extremely helpful to raise the attention on Tim Walz and his record here in the state,” Daudt said. And if Trump ends up throwing his weight behind Lindell — who conspired with Trump in 2020 to advance false claims that the presidential election was stolen — Republicans worry that could give Walz a clearer path to reelection."

"Still, Republicans see an opportunity to win back the Minnesota governor’s seat for the first time since 2006 by hammering Walz, who is running despite scrutiny into his oversight of state benefits and a star turn as the Democratic vice presidential nominee that put him in the crosshairs of Republicans across the country. At the same time, Trump has also used the arrests of some Somali immigrants in federal fraud cases to broadly characterize the state’s Somali population as criminals — leaning on his trademark use of divisive rhetoric that some Republicans worry will fall flat. That risk, insiders warn, could be exacerbated if Lindell, a Trump ally, wins the Republican nomination. “We’d be cooked,” said Dustin Grage, a Minnesota Republican strategist. “I’d be moving to Florida very shortly. We would lose pretty badly if Mike Lindell were to get the nomination.” Those close to the president strenuously disagree, arguing the state remains on the map. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer, the most high-profile Minnesota Republican and an ally of the president, said he’s spoken to Trump about the governor’s race and is confident that any of the 13 Republicans seeking the party’s nomination could defeat Walz."

"In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up his efforts to link Walz to the abuse of government programs — while using incendiary rhetoric directed at the governor and the Somali community. In a social media post on Thanksgiving, he called Walz “seriously retarded” and accused Somali refugees of seeking to “prey” on Minnesotans. And at an early December rally in Pennsylvania, he again denigrated the Somali community while discussing “the great big Minnesota scam with one of the dumbest governors ever in history.” Emmer, who said he spoke with Trump about the governor’s race as early as July, said he believes the president recognizes an opportunity in Walz’s vulnerability. “I think the president knows that Tim Walz is the weakest he’s ever been in his political career,” Emmer said. Former Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, said the fraud investigations are part of the risk for Walz in seeking a third consecutive term. “If you can lay out a case that, ‘Well, you’ve been elected now for eight years, and you haven’t fixed these problems,’ or ‘You haven’t accomplished what you said you were going to’ … it kind of makes it an easier case to say, ‘Maybe it’s time for someone new,’” Daudt said. But the rhetoric Trump is using to highlight the fraud may reframe the issue to the detriment of Walz’s Republican opponent, said Brodkorb,the former party official. He believes Minnesotans are eager to weigh ideas on immigration policy and how to tackle abuse of public programs. “The problem is when the president comes in and says things like, ‘Everyone in the entire Somali community is garbage,’” Brodkorb said."

"They're out of a Hallmark movie in terms of how decent they are as people, and it's exactly what would want as vice president."

"In response to a request for comment to a Walz spokesperson, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Richard Carlbom said in a statement that Walz “heads into reelection with a record focused squarely on working people and kitchen-table issues.” “While the GOP clown-car primary remains consumed by infighting and loyalty tests for Donald Trump, Minnesota families are falling behind as Republicans unleash higher grocery prices, skyrocketing health care bills, and giant tax breaks for billionaires,” Carlbom said. “Minnesotans see the difference — a governor delivering for working families, or Republicans delivering loyalty to Donald Trump and a Washington agenda that puts billionaires first.”"

"When Mankato West High School principal John Barnett suggested Walz for the role of GSA faculty advisor, Reitan knew he’d be the right fit because of how accepting both Walz and his wife Gwen — who was also a dedicated high school teacher at the time — had always been. In fact, Gwen Walz was the third person Reitan ever told he was gay after first coming out to his sister and a close friend. “Gwen was my teacher in the 10th grade, and [she] started her 10th-grade class by saying, ‘This is a safe space for LGBTQ+ people.’ I’d never heard a teacher say positive things about gay people from the front of the classroom,” he said. Starting a group for LGBTQ+ students and their allies in a small city in the Midwest during the late '90s was no easy feat, but choosing the ultimate All-American teacher to lead it turned out to be a brilliant decision."

"With Walz at the helm and the support of the well-respected school principal, the GSA didn’t face as much hate as they expected, but there were still detractors. Reitan recalls that every time the GSA put up posters advertising the group or one of their events, they would get pulled down and ripped up. Not to be deterred, the high school senior always picked up the pieces and eventually turned them into a mural emblazoned with the words, “Symbols of our hate.” The group also faced backlash when it came time for them to organize a Human Rights Week for the school, which focused on a different form of discrimination each day for a week, including gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. Both the school and Reitan’s parents received angry letters and phone calls from disgruntled parents who threatened to keep their teens home on the day sexual orientation would be highlighted, but Walz refused to back down and kowtow to closed-minded parents."

"In the years since his tenure heading the GSA, Walz has made supporting LGBTQ+ rights a pillar of his political career, never shying away from it even when it may have helped him win elections to do so."

"It was during this turbulent period that gay attorney and LGBTQ+ rights activist Jacob Reitan attended Mankato West High School in a Minnesota suburb where Walz taught social studies and coached the football team. “I did receive a fair bit of bullying,” Reitan told PRIDE. “My house was egged, my car window was smashed in the school parking lot, gay epithets were chalked in my driveway, a brick was thrown through my dad’s office window.” Born out of his “activist spirit” and his desire to come out of the closet and stop the bullying, Reitan founded his school’s first Gay Straight Alliance in 1999 with the help of the man who is now delivering stump speeches alongside presidential hopeful Harris."

"In 2023, Walz signed a statewide bill banning so-called conversion therapy, the widely discredited and disavowed practice of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The conversion therapy ban forbids any medical or mental healthcare practitioner from offering such therapy to minors and “vulnerable” adults. It also forbids any entities from publishing advertising that refers to LGBTQ+ identities as “a mental disease, disorder or illness” or promises to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Practitioners who break the law could face discipline from the state’s health licensing boards. During the law’s signing ceremony, Walz stated, “Minnesota says, ‘Welcome to a state who values who you are and protects you for who you are.’”"

"Minnesota has been the white whale for Republicans in the Trump era. And 2026 could be the year they finally break through — if President Donald Trump and one of the most prolific peddlers of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election don’t sink their chances. Republicans are growing optimistic about their chances of unseating Democratic Gov. Tim Walz next year, as he seeks a historic third term. But Trump’s increasingly caustic attacks on Walz and disparagement of Minnesota’s Somali community — and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s entrance into the gubernatorial race — could hurt Republicans’ chances of regaining ground in the state, some party strategists argue. “When the president comes in with a flamethrower and just throws that type of rhetoric, there’s no oxygen, and there’s no space for the Republican to offer suggestions and to be thoughtful in that space, because the rhetoric of the president just paints them into a corner,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP who backed the Democratic ticket in 2024. Republicans have insisted they can be competitive statewide in the blue-leaning Minnesota ever since Trump lost Minnesota by less than 2 points in 2016. But since then, winning the state has beguiled both the president — who faced a 7-point loss in 2020 and a 4-point loss in 2024 — and Republicans in other statewide races, including two fairly comfortable wins for Walz in 2018 and 2022."

"The late ‘90s and early 2000s were a rough time to be a gay teen. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was still in effect, the U.S. was many years away from the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage, Mathew Shepard was murdered in a horrific anti-gay hate crime that made national headlines in 1998, homophobic jokes were the norm on TV, and LGBTQ+ students were being harassed at schools all across the country. Today we are living through a moment when history is being made by a woman of color becoming the Democratic nominee for president of the United States for the first time — and by Kamala Harris' side is Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, who has been breaking down barriers and standing up for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community since his days as a high school teacher in the '90s."

"Mr. Walz brought passion every day. He loved to coach. He loved to teach. [As for football,] if you don’t do your job, there’s literally a hole there for them to run the ball through. Tim, he just had a way of not making you feel bad but making you want to do better."

"Last year, as Minnesota’s governor, Walz returned to Holocaust education, and supported and signed a law requiring the state’s middle and high schools to teach about the Holocaust. The law, initiated and championed by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, also encourages schools to teach about other genocides. A working group for the curriculum hit snags earlier this summer when a pro-Palestinian activist was removed from the committee amid debates on whether Israel’s conduct in Gaza constitutes genocide. The mandate is still anticipated to go into effect in the 2025-2026 school year. “This is going to work out, this is going to be good, because the governor and his staff are highly attuned to the concerns and sensitivities of the Jewish community,” Ethan Roberts, the JCRC’s deputy executive director, told JTA. Speaking at a JCRC event in June, Walz said he had been “privileged and proud” to have participated in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum training early in his career. But he said more needed to be done, and he emphasized that the curriculum chosen to accomplish the requirement would determine its success. “We need to do better on Holocaust education. We need to do better on ethnic studies,” he told the crowd. “And I tell you this as a teacher and as governor, too, we don’t need test scores or anything to tell us that we’re failing.” It was the kind of message that former Mankato West students said they came to expect from him. “He is what you hope a great teacher is,” said Solo, “which is someone who’s not only teaching, but also learning at all times.”"

"Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, has emerged as a prominent figure in American politics, known for his dedication to creating an inclusive and equitable society for all and his unwavering support of LGBTQ+ rights and commitment to social justice. Serving since January 2019, Walz’s political career spans over a decade, including his tenure as a U.S. Representative for Minnesota. His background as a retired Master Sergeant in the Army National Guard and a former high school teacher uniquely positions him as a leader who understands the values (and shortcomings) of military, educational, and governmental realms. Recently, his strong leadership and progressive values have placed him among those being considered as a potential vice presidential pick for Kamala Harris, further elevating his national profile and influence."

"Born on April 6, 1964, in West Point, Nebraska, Tim Walz grew up in the state’s rural northwestern area of Valentine. He entered the Army National Guard in 1981 at the age of 17, serving 24 years and retiring as a Command Sergeant Major in 2005. In 1989, he earned a bachelor’s in social science education from Chadron State College, and In 2001, he earned a master’s in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Walz was a high school teacher and coach. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, representing Minnesota’s 1st congressional district and winning re-election every two years until he became governor in 2018. In the House, he focused largely on veterans issues and became known for his bipartisanship. As governor, he focused on police and firearm reform, cannabis legalization, and educational funding. He won re-election as governor in 2022."

"Walz was describing, in effect, his own approach to teaching the Holocaust that he implemented in Alliance, Nebraska, years earlier. In the state’s remote northwest region, Walz asked his global geography class to study the common factors that linked the Holocaust to other historical genocides, including economic strife, totalitarian ideology and colonialism. The year was 1993. At year’s end, Walz and his class correctly predicted that Rwanda was most at risk of sliding into genocide. “The Holocaust is taught too often purely as a historical event, an anomaly, a moment in time,” Walz told The New York Times in 2008, reflecting on those Alliance lessons. “That relieves us of responsibility. Obviously, the mastermind was sociopathic, but on the scale for it to happen, there had to be a lot of people in the country who chose to go down that path.”"

"“If it was the intention of Donald Trump to make an example of Minnesota, then I’m damn proud of the example that the world is seeing,” the governor added. Tensions in Minneapolis have soared in the wake of a Border Patrol agent’s shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse, on Saturday. Footage showed multiple officers pinning Pretti to the ground and removing his 9mm handgun, the gun slide of which appeared to move. Officers then opened fire on Pretti. Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to Walz on how to end the chaos in Minnesota but the governor shrugged that off. “There’s 2 million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those,” Walz snapped back on Sunday. “We cooperate. We don’t do their job,” Walz later contended when pressed about the Trump administration’s demands that it can get more access to the state’s jails. “It’s their job to do immigration.” The shooting of Pretti came some two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot Renee Good, also 37, after she accelerated her SUV in his direction. An investigation into Pretti’s death is ongoing, according to top officials, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem."