Washington — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz went from relative obscurity to coining an assault line towards Republicans and turning into Democrats’ vice presidential candidate inside quite a few weeks this summer time.
His political profession started in 2006, when he was elected to the Home of Representatives from a conservative district bordering Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin. However he is taken a extra liberal stance on quite a few points since turning into governor in 2019.
Here is a take a look at the place he stands on a number of vital points heading into Tuesday’s VP debate, hosted by CBS Information:
Tim Walz’s views and document on abortion and IVF
As governor, Walz signed laws codifying abortion rights in 2023, making Minnesota the primary state to do after the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade. The laws additionally protects entry to contraception, fertility remedies, sterilization and different reproductive well being care.
Walz and his spouse, Gwen, opened up about their very own fertility struggles after the Alabama Supreme Court docket dominated earlier this yr that frozen embryos made by in vitro fertilization, or IVF, are youngsters underneath the legislation. The ruling opened the door to potential wrongful loss of life claims if an embryo didn’t survive the method.
“Should you’ve by no means skilled the hell that’s infertility, I assure you, you understand any individual who has,” Walz mentioned in his speech on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August. “I bear in mind praying every night time for a name, the pit in my abdomen when the telephone would ring and absolutely the agony once we heard the remedies hadn’t labored. It took me and Gwen years.”
The couple finally conceived their daughter, Hope, by intrauterine insemination remedies, also referred to as IUI.
The Israel-Gaza struggle
The vice presidential candidate has echoed Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on the struggle in Gaza, supporting Israel’s proper to defend itself after Hamas attacked the U.S. ally on Oct. 7, whereas additionally acknowledging the struggling of Palestinians.
Israel has “the fitting to defend themselves and the USA will at all times stand by that, however we will not permit what’s occurred in Gaza to occur. The Palestinian folks have each proper to life and liberty themselves,” he mentioned in early September. “It is a humanitarian disaster. It may well’t stand the way in which it’s. And we have to discover a method that individuals can dwell collectively on this, and we have mentioned it and proceed to say it, getting a cease-fire with the return of the hostages after which transferring in the direction of a sustainable two state answer is the one method ahead.”
Gun management
Walz, who as soon as had an “A” grade from the NRA, took a number of votes throughout his six phrases in Congress to broaden entry to firearms. On the time, he represented a rural district.
“I grew up searching and spent 24 years within the Military Nationwide Guard,” Walz mentioned in 2010. “I understand how vital Second Modification rights are to the folks of southern Minnesota. I am proud to face with the NRA to guard our Second Modification rights, and I am really grateful for his or her endorsement.”
He started to melt his stance towards an assault weapons ban in 2012 after the Sandy Hook college capturing, wherein 20 youngsters and 6 adults had been killed.
“It has to strike the right stability between the constitutional rights of law-abiding residents versus the protection of all Individuals,” he mentioned of a possible legislative repair.
Walz took a extra liberal stance on gun management whereas he ran for governor of Minnesota. He criticized the NRA, writing within the Minnesota Star Tribune that “it is the largest single impediment to passing essentially the most primary measures to stop gun violence in America.” He additionally mentioned he supported an assault weapons ban.
As governor, he signed laws to require background checks for gun transfers and a “crimson flag” legislation that enables legislation enforcement to remove somebody’s gun when they’re susceptible to harming themselves or another person with a firearm.
The financial system
In 2023, Minnesota’s $17.5 billion price range surplus offered Walz and the Democratic-controlled state legislature with funding for his or her priorities, together with free college meals for all college students from kindergarten by highschool. Democrats additionally handed laws that offered tax rebates and credit for low- and middle-income households, reminiscent of a $1,750 little one tax credit score to assist raise youngsters out of poverty, whereas elevating taxes on overseas companies and rich taxpayer’s funding earnings.
When Walz turned governor in 2019, the Minnesota unemployment charge was 3.3%. It peaked at 11.2% in Might 2020, two months after the World Well being Group declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The state’s unemployment charge is now on par to pre-pandemic ranges, although it is elevated in latest months, in response to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics knowledge.
Minnesota’s financial development, nonetheless, has been slower than the nationwide charge. In 2023, the state’s inflation-adjusted gross home product — which measures the whole worth of products and providers — elevated 1.6%, in response to the U.S. Bureau of Financial Evaluation. U.S. GDP elevated 2.9% in 2023.
Immigration
In Congress, Walz voted for a invoice that will block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from coming into the U.S. except they handed strict background checks. Walz, as governor, welcomed the resettlement of refugees in Minnesota, saying the state “has a powerful ethical custom of welcoming those that search refuge.”
“The inn will not be full in Minnesota,” he wrote in a 2019 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Minnesota is dwelling to massive Somali, Karen, Hmong and Liberian populations.
In 2021, Walz requested Democrats in Congress to discover a pathway to citizenship for important staff, “Dreamers” and immigrants who’ve Non permanent Protected Standing, in addition to their households.
He signed a invoice final yr that made undocumented immigrants eligible for Minnesota driver’s licenses.
“With an estimated 81,000 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota, the invoice will improve security throughout Minnesota by guaranteeing that every one drivers are licensed, insured, and have taken driver’s training programs,” a information launch mentioned.
Undocumented immigrants in Minnesota additionally turned eligible to enroll within the state’s publicly run medical insurance program for low-income residents and apply at no cost faculty tuition underneath Walz’s management.
CBS Information will host the one deliberate vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and CBS Information 24/7. Obtain the free CBS Information app for dwell protection, post-debate evaluation, complete reality checks and extra.
