MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz knows how to emphasize abortion rights in the debate. He’s done it before.
Just ask his Republican opponent in Minnesota’s 2022 gubernatorial race, Dr. Scott Jensen, who was on the receiving end of Walz’s attacks — and saw firsthand how effective Walz could be in exposing the shifting views from an opponent on abortion.
Jensen’s experience two years ago could provide insight into what we can expect Tuesday when Walz debates GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance on CBS. Jensen said in an interview that Walz would be smart to talk about abortion.
“I think Tim Walz will say that loud and clear, and JD Vance needs to make it very clear that there will be no federal ban on abortion,” Jensen said. “That’s what Trump said, and they need to make that very clear.”
The family physician and former senator originally voiced support for an abortion ban in his 2022 campaign and chose a running mate with a reputation as an outspoken opponent of abortion, former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk. That helped him win the Republican nomination, but it didn’t work out so well with the broader electorate.
By the time Walz and Jensen met two years ago for their second of three debates, Jensen tried to downplay abortion, insisting it was not on the ballot.
That was certainly the case for Walz.
“My entire career, I have trusted women to make their health care decisions,” Walz said when they met at the studios of KTTC-TV in Rochester for their only televised primetime debate. this office should come between them.
Jensen had argued that state courts had already decided that abortion rights were protected by the Minnesota Constitution and accused Walz of “fear-mongering” by claiming they might be in danger. He said he wouldn’t ban abortion because he couldn’t — that it would require a constitutional amendment.
But Walz pointed out that former President Donald Trump’s nominees to the Supreme Court voted to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision after suggesting in their confirmation hearings that it was settled law. In Minnesota, Walz noted, governors appoint Supreme Court justices.
“I want to be absolutely clear: This is on the ballot,” Walz said. “It will impact future generations.”
Vance and Trump are moving cautiously after their previous support for restricting access to abortion, saying they now want to leave this up to the states.
Trump repeatedly declined to say during his September 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris whether he would veto a national abortion ban, insisting that a ban would not pass Congress anyway. Yet he has often been credited with appointing the three justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion. He has distanced himself from statements he made in March in which he would support a national ban.
Vance himself had strongly opposed abortion in the run-up to his 2022 senatorial election, but joined Trump this year. Harris and Walz have urged their audiences not to trust Trump and Vance on abortion rights.
Walz’s comments on abortion rights from the 2022 debates with Jensen sound like statements he could try again in the clash with Vance, said Kevin Parsneau, a political science professor at Minnesota State University in Mankato. Despite Trump and Vance’s comments that a national ban is off the table and that the issue is in the hands of the states, he said, Walz could point out that the next president and Congress could override anything the states do.
Not only was abortion rights a winning issue in 2022 for Walz, who defeated Jensen by nearly 8 percentage points, the issue also helped Democrats seize control of both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature and the governor’s office for the first time in eight years to take. That “trifecta” allowed them to advance a sweeping progressive agenda in 2023 that included stronger protections for abortion rights — and put Walz on Harris’ radar when she needed a running mate.
Both Walz and Jensen felt sloppy in their third debate, on Minnesota Public Radio.
Walz essentially ignored Jensen’s outcry over his 1995 drunk driving arrest in Nebraska, with Jensen calling him the “godfather of the crime epidemic.” Walz fell into a series of incoherent answers, prompting Jensen to make a point, when the moderator offered him a rebuttal: “Thanks, I almost fell asleep.”
Walz will make adjustments along the way, Jensen said, so Vance will have to frame his attacks carefully.
“Tim Walz has a likeable personality. I worked with him when I was in the Senate,” Jensen said. “He’s a jovial guy. If you try to turn Tim Walz into something evil, I don’t think it’s going to work. Because Tim Walz isn’t evil. He is a skilled politician who has learned on the job.”
The Trump-Vance campaign has already criticized Walz’s response to the riots that accompanied protests over the 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer, and Vance is said to can raise this again. While Trump praised Walz at the time, Republicans now say Walz should have acted faster to deploy the National Guard. The governor said in the KTTC-TV debate that he was proud of the way he and Minnesota’s first responders responded to the crisis, “no matter how much I am vilified by Scott.”
Vance has already previewed attacks on Walz’s military record. Walz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, but retired when he first ran for Congress in 2005 before his unit deployed to Iraq. He has sometimes referred to himself as a retired command sergeant major, and he did so for less than a year. But his rank was reduced to master sergeant for benefits purposes because he had not completed the necessary courses. His careless language included what struck some as the claim that he had served in combat when he had not.
Vance, who served four years in the Marines, including six months as a military journalist in Iraq, has accused Walz of “stolen courage.”
“I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Walz responded in a speech at a trade union conference. ‘And I firmly believe that you should never belittle someone else’s record. For anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I have just a few simple words. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
Vance thanked Walz for his service in a social media post, but accused Walz of lying about his criminal record.
“Happy to discuss more in a debate,” Vance said.
A key challenge for Vance, Jensen says, will be making sure Walz answers the questions put to him.
“You don’t want to underestimate Tim Walz, because he has the ability to speak quickly and honestly, and yet, without the audience realizing it, he can often go on for a minute or two, and everything makes sense. Okay on the surface, but when you stop and ask, “Did he answer the question?” He didn’t,” Jensen said. “Tim Walz will throw a word salad at you and you won’t realize it’s even happening.”
