Kamala Harris’ VP pick: What to know about Tim Walz’s economic track record

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s economic track record is under the microscope after Vice President Harris’ decision Tuesday to select Walz as her running mate on the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket.

Walz, 60, is in his second term as Minnesota’s governor after he represented the state’s 1st Congressional District for 12 years. Prior to entering politics, Walz worked in construction, manufacturing and as a mortgage processor and became a teacher while also serving in the Army National Guard until 2005.

With nearly two decades in high-level elected office, Walz has a lengthy record on economic issues that is largely in line with mainstream Democrats, including those of Minnesota’s unique Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, which the governor belongs to.

Here’s a look at Walz’s track record on several key areas of economic policy now that he has been named Vice President Harris’ running mate:

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Taxes and spending

While in Congress, Walz supported the Obama administration’s stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

He also voted against the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) under which the federal government bailed out financial institutions by purchasing toxic assets, as well as a program that provided federal loans to bail out automakers. 

As governor, Walz’s latest budget proposal for 2024-25 would total $65.2 billion, the largest state budget in the state’s history, including $8 billion in tax cuts, according to the Minnesota Reformer. The plan would spend most of the state’s $17.6 billion surplus through spending and rebate checks to Minnesotans.

The proposal has faced criticism from Republicans in the state. Minnesota House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth noted the spending increase comes when the state has a “record surplus” of $17.6 billion and is calling for permanent tax cuts.

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The nonpartisan Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index for 2024, which was published in October 2023, ranked Minnesota as having the 44th best tax climate for businesses in the country.

An analysis published by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in January found that Minnesota’s tax code was the most progressive of all 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a more progressive tax code.

Walz’s latest budget proposal for the 2024-25 budget cycle calls for an increased capital gains tax and reducing the state’s tax on Social Security benefits for lower income beneficiaries, while keeping it in place for higher income households. 

The Minnesota Post reported that when he campaigned for re-election in 2022, Walz was supportive of a bipartisan deal reached by the state legislature to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits entirely amid concerns the taxes could encourage beneficiaries to leave the state. 

However, the deal fell apart amid a dispute over how to spend the state’s cash surplus, and Walz has since said he believes the tax on Social Security benefits should remain in effect for those with higher retirement income because the “impact of that Social Security tax is almost unnoticeable to the folks making that much.”

Inflation and “Bidenomics”

Last year, Walz said at the Heartland Forward summit that inflation made it so that President Biden’s campaign may struggle to “sell just straight ‘Bidenomics’ that’s working” because voters “may not buy that.” 

Instead, Walz said the president should focus on contrasting his agenda with that of former President Trump’s campaign.

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Green energy

In 2023, Walz signed a bill requiring that electric utilities in the state have carbon-free energy generation or procurement sources for 80% of retail sales for public utilities by 2030. 

From there, the requirement would increase to 100% by 2040, with a requirement that 55% of all total retail electric sales be generated or procured from eligible energy sources by 2035.

A report by the Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment criticized the proposal, saying it would cost $313 billion through 2050 and create capacity shortfalls in the electric grid that would result in blackouts because of output fluctuations from wind and solar energy sites.

Labor and consumers

Last year, Walz signed into law legislation that banned nearly all post-termination noncompete agreements for employees and independent contractors. The move made Minnesota the fourth state to enact a law restricting noncompete agreements and preceded a federal regulatory push by the Biden-Harris administration to ban noncompete agreements.

Walz signed a junk fees bill in May that requires the full price of a given product to be disclosed at the beginning of the transaction and in any subsequent advertising. It also prohibits charges that aren’t aligned with an additional product or service.

He also signed a bill in June requiring the supply chain of more than 360 drugs to be subject to reporting.

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COVID response

The COVID-19 pandemic began during Walz’s first term as governor, and he adopted relatively heavy-handed restrictions, including lockdowns and mask mandates that were favored by many Democratic leaders around the country. Walz eventually lifted an indoor masking mandate in 2021.

Walz also established a hotline to report residents who violated COVID-19 mandates, as FOX 9 Minneapolis reported at the time. Republican state Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka asked Walz to “please take [the] Hotline down” in a post after it was established, saying it was “unnecessary.”

“We can all show a bit of kindness to our neighbors as we manage our times and needs differently in our stay at home efforts,” Gazelka added.

Minnesota Republicans criticized Walz’s administration for lax oversight of pandemic programs that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. Federal prosecutors charged 70 people for their role in a $250 million scheme to defraud federal food programs that funded meals for children during the pandemic. 

Known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, it was one of the country’s largest pandemic aid fraud schemes. Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan watchdog, said in a June report that Walz’s Department of Education “failed to act on warning signs” and was ineffective in using its authority to respond to the fraud scheme.

George Floyd Riots

Walz faced criticism for his handling of the violent riots that erupted in Minneapolis after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Floyd was killed in police custody May 25, 2020, and violent protests began in Minneapolis and the neighboring city of St. Paul the following day. After two days of unrest that saw the torching of a police station and damage to numerous small businesses, Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard to quell the unrest on May 28.

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In financial terms, the Minneapolis-St. Paul riots of 2020 were the second-most destructive in U.S. history at an estimated cost of approximately $500 million, trailing only the 1992 Los Angeles riots. About 60% of the financial losses related to the riots were uninsured, the Star Tribune reported, citing the Lake Street Council.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.