Minnesota Gov. Walz brings ag, biofuels background to Democratic ticket

This story was initially revealed by DTN/The Progressive Farmer.

OMAHA (DTN) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was named Tuesday as operating mate for Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket towards former President Donald Trump and his operating mate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.

When it comes to the marketing campaign, the previous prosecutor from San Francisco selected a Midwesterner from Minnesota to counter the previous New York real-estate mogul’s choose of a Midwesterner from Ohio. Walz, 60, has been seen as a Democratic “rural Midwest” counter to Vance.

Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, has an extended historical past of working with Walz via his time as each governor and a former congressman from southern Minnesota who served for six phrases on the Home Agriculture Committee.

“He does perceive rural very effectively and he’s obtained a rural background,” Wertish stated. “He’s been a powerful supporter of agriculture via his years as a congressman and dealing on farm payments and particularly renewable fuels. These are large points in rural Minnesota.”

Together with the concentrate on biofuels, Walz additionally has been championing extra electrical automobiles and reducing greenhouse fuel emissions throughout the state’s economic system. Walz arrange a biodiesel activity drive, which Wertish sits on, to assist improve greater and better blends of biodiesel fuels. “The governor has been very supportive of that,” Wertish stated. He added, “He’s actually been a powerful supporter of attempting to maneuver away from fossil fuels as a lot as you may.”

Wertish described Walz as “very personable” who’s “undoubtedly prepared to hear and doesn’t come into coverage conversations with preconceived beliefs.

“He actually tried to hearken to all sides and give you an answer that matches the difficulty and helps nearly all of individuals and I’ve to provide him credit score for that,” Wertish stated.

Harris’s number of Walz additionally will seemingly draw much more consideration over the subsequent couple of days at Minnesota’s FarmFest, which begins Tuesday and runs via Thursday.

Walz comes from a unique background than quite a lot of nationwide political leaders. He was a social-studies instructor in Mankato, Minnesota. Because the story goes, Walz determined to run for Congress after he and his college students had been prevented from attending a rally for former President George W. Bush in Mankato as a result of one in all his college students had a sticker supporting John Kerry.

The Trump-Vance marketing campaign rapidly described Walz as “a harmful liberal extremist,” and a “West Coast wannabe.” The marketing campaign linked to a 2017 Republican Governors Affiliation video through which Walz described crimson states as “principally cows and rocks.” Trump had been paying extra consideration to Minnesota in hopes of flipping the state.

“Walz has spent his governorship attempting to reshape Minnesota within the picture of the Golden State,” acknowledged Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s marketing campaign press secretary. “Whereas Walz pretends to help Individuals within the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘principally cows and rocks’. From proposing his personal carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission requirements for gas-powered automobiles, and embracing insurance policies to permit convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessive about spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and broad. If Walz gained’t inform voters the reality, we’ll: identical to Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is each American’s nightmare.

Walz has been Minnesota’s governor since taking workplace in 2019. Walz additionally served on the Home Agriculture Committee from 2007 till he turned governor. Walz was concerned in drafting and passing the 2008, 2014 and 2018 farm payments.

Walz’s roots are literally in Nebraska. He was raised in Valentine, Nebraska, and went to school at Chadron State Faculty within the northwest nook of the state. Early in his instructing profession, Walz additionally taught college students on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in addition to in China. He took a instructing job in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1996 and taught there till he selected to run for Congress.

Walz additionally joined the Nebraska Nationwide Guard at age 17 and retired from the Minnesota Nationwide Guard in 2005 on the rank of command sergeant main.

Walz has labored with Republican Midwest governors to push EPA to permit these states to promote E15 year-round. That goes into impact in 2025. He had pushed for laws in Minnesota for E15 as effectively. Walz additionally wrote President Joe Biden in February 2021 calling on his administration to contemplate govt orders that will encourage extra biofuel use. One proposal Walz pitched was to tighten the Clear Air Act by changing aromatics in gasoline with alternate options, which might drive a shift to higher-octane ethanol.

In 2020, Walz additionally joined South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and then-Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts — all Republicans — in asking Trump administration EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to reject 52 petroleum refiner purposes for retroactive small refinery exemptions from the Renewable Fuels Commonplace.

Walz additionally has pushed to develop college breakfasts and lunches in his state. Final 12 months, he signed a invoice permitting free college meals for kids who attend private and non-private colleges.

In Might 2023, Walz additionally signed a invoice legalizing leisure hashish in Minnesota, a place he had backed since his ran for governor.

On Fb Walz lately touted establishing paid go away for sicknesses, increasing collective bargaining rights and touting “clean-energy job progress to create good-paying union jobs.”

Walz has pushed again on complaints that his insurance policies are too liberal. “What a monster. Children are consuming and having full bellies to allow them to be taught and ladies are making their very own healthcare selections,” Politico quoted.

Walz additionally confirmed up on a Zoom fundraiser for “White Dudes for Harris” shortly after she took over the race from President Joe Biden. Walz stated to the group, “How typically in 100 days do you get to vary the trajectory of the world? How typically in 100 days do you get to do one thing that’s going to influence generations to come back?”