Tim Walz Tapped for VP

The Minnesota governor has protected abortion rights and spoken about his family's IVF journey

They’re going to have to change those signs behind him!

Well, it’s official: Presidential nominee Kamala Harris has tapped Tim Walz to be her running mate. While I was still holding out hope for a Harris/Whitmer ticket, I think Walz is the best choice among the men the Vice President was said to be considering. The Minnesota governor is charming, funny and relatable—the internet says he has ‘dad energy’—and he’s clearly eager to take on Republicans.

After all, it was Walz who started calling JD Vance and Donald Trump “weird,” an attack that’s working in the polls and has since been adopted by Harris’ campaign.

Walz is also very strong on abortion rights, an issue that has become even more central to the presidential election now that Harris is the nominee. So it’s no surprise that while abortion rights groups are lauding Walz as the VP pick, anti-abortion activists and organizations are losing their collective shit.

More on that soon, but first let’s get into Walz’s history on abortion and why the issue is so personal to him.

Walz & Abortion Rights

Walz won reelection in 2022 by campaigning on abortion rights, and under his leadership, Minnesota became the first state to codify abortion protections after Roe was overturned.

Walz signed the PRO Act in January 2023, a law guaranteeing the right to abortion, birth control and other reproductive healthcare. And while abortion was already legal in Minnesota, the PRO Act added a vital extra layer of protection. Walz said, “No matter who sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, this legislation will ensure Minnesotans have access to reproductive health care for generations to come.”

He also told CNN at the time, “This is very simple, very right to the point…We trust women in Minnesota.” In keeping with that vow to trust women, Walz also signed an executive order banning state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into abortion ‘crimes,’ and later signed a law that does the same.

Minnesota’s Reproductive Freedom Defense Act shields abortion patients and providers from out-of-state legal or disciplinary actions for providing legal care; prohibits Minnesota agencies from enforcing out-of-state subpoenas, arrest warrants, and extradition requests; and protects patient records and privacy.

The law was part of a package of safeguards for abortion and LGBTQ rights, including a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ and protections for gender-affirming care. Upon signing, Walz said, “Minnesota says, ‘Welcome to a state who values who you are and protects you for who you are.’”

Walz also ended a program that gave millions in funding to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers that lie to and shame women, saying, “I think women deserve better than that.” In March, he accompanied Harris on her trip to an abortion clinic—a historic first by a sitting vice president. And the Minnesota governor has made clear that much like Harris, he’s not afraid to talk about abortion rights directly and candidly. Earlier this year, he slammed Republicans for running from the issue, saying that while they try to “lay a little low and not bring it up…I'll continue to talk about it.”

Finally, what’s really interesting about Walz’s support for reproductive rights is that it’s not just political for him—the issue is personal. Walz has been open about his family’s IVF story, especially after the Alabama Supreme Court decision that frozen embryos were “extrauterine children.” Both of Walz’s children with his wife Gwen—Hope and Gus—were born with the help of IVF. Walz says, “It’s not by chance that we named our daughter Hope.”

That personal experience with fertility treatments will go a long way with voters. IVF is extraordinarily popular, and national backlash to Alabama’s decision made that broad support clearer than ever. Add to the mix that JD Vance is still under fire for his comments about “childless cat ladies,” and I have to imagine that the Trump campaign is sweating.

In fact, it was just a few weeks ago that Walz slammed Vance for his opposition to IVF, tweeting that “JD Vance opposing the miracle of IVF is a direct attack on my family and so many others.” Whew.

Given Walz’s strong history of abortion rights support and his personal connection to the issue—which we know moves voters—it makes sense that anti-abortion groups are terrified.

Anti-Abortion Response

As soon Harris’ campaign announced Walz as her running mate, anti-abortion groups didn’t waste a moment before attacking the Minnesota governor as an extremist.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America released a statement calling Harris-Walz “the most pro-abortion Democratic ticket yet,” claiming that Democrats have “become the ‘Shout Your Abortion’ party, with no limits for any reason.” If only!

Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said, “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are both radically pro-abortion and see the lives of precious unborn babies as disposable inconveniences.” And Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins called them “the most radically pro-abortion ticket in American history.” (I love the idea that a woman who wants to see birth control banned thinks she has the standing to call anyone “radical.”)

Hawkins’ group also tweeted that Walz “supports killing babies up until the moment of birth & even moments after the baby is born.” As I’ve noted before, this horrific ‘post-birth’ abortion lie being pushed by Trump is gaining Republican steam. It was just a few days ago, in fact, that Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Harris and Democrats support “abortion up until birth and even after birth.”

I’ll write more soon about how I think Walz should respond to this particular lie (and others), but in the meantime you can catch up by reading this:

How Kamala Harris Can Hit Back on Trump's Abortion Lies

More broadly, we can plan to see attacks linked to Walz’ support for Minnesota’s PRO Act. Conservatives are going to call the law extremist, and pick it apart in the service of splashy headlines—like this one at the National Review, which claims Walz allowed for ‘coerced’ abortions. (If you’re a regular reader, you know that rhetoric around ‘coercion’ is something I’ve been tracking for a while now; and I just wrote about it yesterday!)

But as board chair for Pro-Choice Minnesota Alyssa Greene told Abortion, Every Day, “There is nothing radical about ensuring Minnesotans have the freedom to make their own healthcare decisions.” Greene says, “Anti-abortion organizations claims that reproductive freedom and abortion access aren’t Minnesotan values, but they couldn’t be more wrong.”

In addition to calling Walz an abortion extremist, you can be sure that we’re going to hear a lot about the Minnesota governor defunding crisis pregnancy centers. And while we know the truth about crisis pregnancy centers, Republicans have had some success painting these dangerous religious organizations as innocuous family-friendly groups that help women and children. So if I was on Walz’s team, I’d be sure to have a few talking points ready to go on CPCs.

Finally, I’m betting that conservative media will have a field day over this quote, in particular:

“Abortion is health care…I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more. And I think the biggest thing is, listen to women, listen to what they’re saying. They’re speaking loudly and they’re speaking at the ballot box.”

Right-wing outlets will have a blast calling him ‘Woke Walz’ or something equally as ridiculous.

Whatever the anti-abortion attacks end up being, just remember this: they are afraid. It’s not only that they know they’re losing. Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers know that if they lose in November, it’s not just about the presidency or Congress. This election is a referendum on abortion. And conservatives are not ready to face the truth: that abortion is losing them the country.

---

To read Abortion, Every Day on Kamala Harris’s abortion rights history, click below:

Harris/Abortion 2024