EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz vowed Friday to make Minnesota a safe haven for the values that underpinned the Democratic presidential ticket he helped lead, while pledging to work harder to address the concerns of understand the president. choose Donald Trump’s voters.
In a high school auditorium in Eagan, Minnesota, a suburb just south of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Walz addressed a crowd of supporters with his reflections on Trump’s election victory, an outcome he said left him searching for answers.
“It is difficult to understand why so many of our fellow citizens, people for whom we have fought so long and hard, have ultimately chosen the other path,” Walz said. “It’s hard to take into account what that path looks like over the next four years.”
Several audience members wore Harris Walz camouflage campaign hats and exchanged hugs before the governor took the stage. They gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name as he and his wife, Gwen Walz, made remarks.
Tim Walz thanked Kamala Harris for selecting him as her running mate and for her friendship. His ascension to the Democratic ticket allowed him to learn more about the country he had hoped to serve as vice president, he said. Even in the face of defeat and the polarized political climate, Walz continued to insist that most Americans shared the same concerns.
“People actually want the same basic things from an American life. And I want to be clear when I say basic things. I mean things like meaningful work, safe neighborhoods, good schools, affordable quality care. But I also mean something more,” Walz said. “It became clear to me: people want certainty. I mean that broadly. They want to feel like their lives are built on a solid foundation that won’t collapse under them.”
Walz also said that Americans wanted the freedom to live their lives as they saw fit, a message that had been a cornerstone of the Harris-Walz campaign. To that end, Walz vowed to make Minnesota a bulwark against a second Trump administration’s potential attacks on abortion rights, immigrants and unions.
“Look, we know what’s coming down the pike. We know it because they told us,” Walz said. “The moment they try to bring a hateful agenda into this state, I stand ready to stand up and fight.”
Walz returned from the presidential campaign trail to a new era of divided state government as Republicans appear to have broken full Democratic control, putting him on Kamala Harris’ radar. He was elected governor in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 in an election that gave Democrats control of both houses of the state legislature.
In his remarks Friday, Walz touted a number of policies Democrats were able to implement during that period, including stronger protections for abortion rights, child tax credits, paid family and medical leave, free school meals for all children and gun safety measures. These policy victories allowed him to tell a story about Minnesota’s progress during the presidential campaign, he said.
Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, who often campaigned with her husband, said Minnesota would remain a safe haven. In digesting the election results, she said Waltz people have found solace in their favorite Bible verse: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”
“Minnesota, we kept the faith,” Gwen Walz said.
While the governor implored opponents of Trump’s agenda to keep fighting, he also called on all Americans to bridge the political divides that widened during the election.
“Maybe when we take a break from this campaign, we can look at each other and see not enemies, but neighbors,” Walz said. “Maybe we’ll sit down over a cup of coffee or a Diet Mountain Dew and just talk.”
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Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski contributed to this report.
