Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, his progressive policy record is in the spotlight as the Trump campaign casts him as a “radical leftist.”
Known as a champion of progressivism, Walz’s stances on several critical issues—including abortion, climate change, and immigration—offer a potential preview of how a Harris-Walz Administration might approach challenging policy questions.
As governor of Minnesota, he pushed an ambitious agenda that included free school meals, tax cuts for the middle class, and goals for tackling climate change. His selection was celebrated by top progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
However, Walz is relatively unknown on the national stage. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll released Tuesday found 71% of U.S. adults have never heard of the midwestern governor or are unsure how to rate him.
For those just beginning to learn about Walz, here is a guide to where he stands on some key issues.
Abortion
Walz has spoken out in support of abortion rights—“Abortion is health care,” he said on CNN in March—and signed several pieces of legislation protecting reproductive rights.
As governor, he signed a bill that enshrined the right to abortion into the state’s statutes, making Minnesota the first state legislature to codify protections into law in 2023 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade months earlier. The bill also included protections for other reproductive health care, including contraception and fertility treatments. Abortion was already protected in the state by a 1995 Minnesota supreme court decision, but the new law was meant to safeguard against future courts potentially overturning that ruling.
“Today, we are delivering on our promise to put up a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom,” Walz said in a press release after signing the bill. “Here…
