Here’s a brief overview of some policies he has supported during his nearly two decades in public office.
Climate
Minnesota must move to 100 percent clean energy by 2040, as required by a bill the Democratic governor signed in February 2023. He campaigned on the issue twice.
In July, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded Minnesota a $200 million grant to reduce emissions by restoring peatland, supporting electric-powered vehicles and reducing food waste. The EPA, in its announcement, thanked Walz “for his leadership and innovative plans.”
Walz has long been a climate champion and is often praised for being well spoken on the issue of tackling climate change.
Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous wrote Tuesday that he was glad to see Walz join the Democratic ticket: “He has worked to protect clean air and water, grow our clean energy economy, and see to it that we do all we can to avoid the very worst of the climate crisis.”
Public safety
Walz helped pass police reform legislation two months after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing wave of global protests over racial inequality. Walz signed the Minnesota Police Accountability Act, which bans police chokeholds and neck restraints along with warrior-style training for officers, while also increasing data collection of fatal police incidents.
During the height of the pandemic, Walz quickly created a mask mandate and a hotline to report people who weren’t social-distancing. That infuriated critics and prompted lawsuits claiming he was overstepping. The issue of whether Walz had the authority to institute a mask mandate and other pandemic protections has been batted in the state’s appeals court and the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Israel and the war in Gaza
Walz has made few statements since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7 but has broadly signaled support for both Israel’s right to self-defense and humanitarian support and protection of Palestinians. He has also rebuked Hamas as harmful to the Palestinian people.
Following a speech by President Joe Biden two weeks into the conflict, Walz wrote on social media to voice his support for humanitarian aid to Gaza. “The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. We cannot let terrorists like Hamas win,” Walz wrote on X.
The governor acknowledged in March that many voters wanted to see the administration change its course after nearly 46,000 Minnesotans voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary on Super Tuesday, many of them as a symbolic protest of Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. Walz said he supports a cease-fire on the condition that it’s a “working cease-fire,” telling Minnesota Public Radio there must be a permanent solution and not merely a week-long pause.
Gun control
Walz, who once carried an “A” rating from the NRA, now supports calls for stricter gun control.
Walz said the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., changed his stance on guns, with his daughter urging him to take action. When he ran for governor that year, Walz said he donated all the NRA money he had ever received to charity and publicly supported background checks, The Washington Post reported.
In May 2023, he signed a bill that included universal background checks and a red-flag law — two gun-control measures opposed by the NRA.
Education
The former teacher and high school football coach signed a bill in March 2023 that provides free school breakfast and lunch for all Minnesota children in participating schools. Minnesota was the fourth state to offer universal free school meals, the Associated Press reported.
Walz signed a bill creating the North Star Promise program, which covers the state college tuition of eligible families making less than $80,000 in adjusted gross income.
Immigration
Walz has said he supports a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
In March 2023, Walz signed a bill that allows any eligible person, regardless of immigration status, to receive a Minnesota driver’s license. Critics lambasted the law, but proponents told the Star Tribune newspaper that it greatly helped the state’s estimated 80,000 undocumented immigrants, who struggled to access public resources without a license. Minneapolis is home to one of the largest communities of Somali immigrants in the world.
Marijuana
In May 2023, Walz signed a bill that legalized recreational marijuana for adults, taxing it at 10 percent, and pushed for the expungement or resentencing of cannabis-related convictions.
Abortion and gender-affirming care
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Walz signed a bill protecting abortion as a state law in January 2023, making the state a hub for the procedure in the Midwest. In March, Harris visited a Planned Parenthood health center that provides abortions.
In April 2023, Walz signed the “trans refuge” bill that shields people seeking and providing gender-affirming care in Minnesota. That same day, he also approved a bill banning conversion therapy.
“We’re putting up a firewall to ensure Minnesotans have the freedom to make their own health-care decisions,” Walz said.
A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Tim Walz was elected to Congress in 2007. He was elected in 2006. This article has been corrected.
