Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz was a moderate Democrat when he served in the House but moved to the left during his two terms as governor. He sees socialism as synonymous with neighborliness, pursues an extremely progressive governing agenda, and earned an “F” on fiscal policy from the Cato Institute.
Another notable thing about Walz is his tenure as governor during the COVID-19 pandemic. So we can parse his handling of the virus — and the record is extremely troubling. In fact, Walz’s coronavirus policies are extremely harsh and restrictive. Under his leadership, the country endured the pandemic in a fundamentally illiberal way.
When the coronavirus first spread, Walz was an enthusiastic promoter of social distancing rules. He described crowds in public and outdoor spaces as “a little too much.” He even defended Minnesota’s ridiculous hotline for COVID-19 whistleblowers. That’s right: The Walz administration has retained a way for people to report neighbors for not following social distancing rules. Walz insisted in a recent interview that “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness”; however, blaming neighbors for being less than loyal to government policies is a fundamental aspect of socialism.
When Republicans called for the hotline to be eliminated, Walz responded: “We are not going to eliminate the phone number that people can call to keep their families safe.”
Despite Walz’s instructions to police only He’s ticketing people who violate stay-at-home orders — bad enough — and he’s also reserved the right to fine $1,000 via executive order and jail violators for 90 days. His administration insists that private indoor gatherings should be limited to 10 people. Outdoor gatherings are arbitrarily limited to 25 people. On July 23, 2020, Walz announced a statewide mask mandate in most indoor spaces and even some outdoor spaces.
“The science shows that if we can get to 90 to 95 percent compliance, we can significantly reduce infection rates, slow the spread and break the chain,” Walz said at the time. “This is how we do business, The cheapest and most effective way to get kids back to school, keep grandparents healthy, and get back the life we all miss.”
What follows is the implementation of one of the stupidest COVID-19 rules: Restaurant diners must wear masks when walking to their tables and moving around the restaurant, but are not required to wear masks as long as they are eating or drinking.
Later, in November and December 2020, Walz issued and extended closure orders for restaurants, gyms and other businesses. This includes outdoor Catering services in catering establishments. More than 150 businesses have formed the Reopen Minnesota Coalition to urge the governor to relax, but Walz is unmoved.
By spring 2021, vaccines are widely available to high-risk groups, making this option available to people who want to protect themselves from the risk of severe illness and death. Only then did Walz relent and allow for widespread reopenings. However, he kept capacity limits in place for many businesses.
These absurd policies — whose effectiveness is now questioned by top U.S. health officials — are not unique to Minnesota. In fact, they are common in blue states. But Walz is as strong an enforcer of these policies as his fellow Democrats.
He is also one of the most prominent defenders of a horrific COVID-19 policy choice: sending sick elderly patients back to nursing homes, where infections are often spread to other vulnerable groups, leading to a disproportionate number of coronavirus deaths in such settings. The cover-up of nursing home deaths in New York ended the political ambitions of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lied about his involvement in the policy. But Waltz was a fellow student. In fact, Walz said sending patients back to nursing homes “is not a mistake.” This statement alone reflects insufficiently poor judgment to disqualify him from pursuing higher office.
Pandemic policy isn’t as important today as it was two years ago, so it remains to be seen whether Walz’s record here matters to voters. But for anyone who believes COVID-19 restrictions are “the greatest intrusion on freedom in our lifetimes,” Walz’s vice presidential candidacy should be a non-starter.
