Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic Vice President nominee, has partially blamed himself for the second Trump administration. Walz takes blame for not being more aggressive against the GOP and MAGA movement, saying the Harris campaign “played it too safe.”
Now with voters protesting the actions of the new administration — including the influence of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, in the White House — at Republican town hall meetings, and House Speaker Mike Johnson telling Republicans to skip those hostile meetings, Walz sees a way to redeem himself and send a stronger message to both Republicans and Democrats unsatisfied with the first months of Trump 2.0.
Walz this week spoke at town hall meetings held in Republican congressional districts in a number of Midwestern states including Montana, Iowa and Nebraska. (Public events are lined up for Walz next week in Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota.)
The Iowa Democratic Party planned an event in Des Moines for Walz to address a crowd of hundreds, which gave Walz a standing ovation despite his failure to prevent Trump from winning in November.
People are energized, organized, and ready to stand up to Trump.
Let’s make our voices heard. pic.twitter.com/IhhgceC9NG
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) March 15, 2025
Walz said: “Democrats need to flood the zone and show up where Republicans aren’t.”
He added, “Folks in Des Moines can’t get a meeting with their Congressman, so I’m here to lend a megaphone and make sure Washington hears how Trump’s agenda is hurting everyone from farmers to teachers to veterans.”
At the Des Moines event, AP reported: “Walz said Democrats ‘need to acknowledge’ that some voters didn’t see a difference between the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets and that the Democrats’ message on issues like immigration and Social Security didn’t resonate. He said he’s listening to learn why.”
Veterans do not want Musk and Trump to fire 83,000 caretakers from the VA. pic.twitter.com/0019t7Trdt
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) March 15, 2025
GOP Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds responded to Walz’s visit in the Cornhusker State by writing on X: “Tim Walz thinks he can come to Iowa to teach us a lesson. I’d say, he could learn a thing or two from Iowa! Common sense, low taxes, and freedom!”
Many of replies to Reynolds’s post from MAGA supporters criticized Walz not for his stance on immigration or Social Security but for signing a 2023 Minnesota law that requires public schools (grades 4 to 12) to provide free menstrual products including tampons to not just girls who menstruate but “all menstruating students.”
(Among the MAGA faithful, the law earned the governor the sobriquet “Tampon Tim.”)
Note: While Trump and his campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the law Walz signed put tampons in all boys’ restrooms in all public schools in Minnesota, the law — which was designed to address “period poverty” (one in four teenagers can’t afford pads and tampons) — puts the onus on each school district to develop a plan regarding the access to such products in restrooms.