Topline
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was chosen to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday after spending more than four years running the Midwestern state—where he’s gotten help from his wife Gwen Walz, a former educator who’s taken on an unusually large policy role in her husband’s administration.
Then-Rep. Tim Walz with wife Gwen Walz as House Speaker John Boehner delivers a ceremonial oath of … [+]
Key Facts
Gwen Walz is a Minnesota native who met her future husband when she was teaching English in Nebraska, and in addition to her extensive teaching experience, she also served as a school administrator and coordinator, according to her official biography.
She has a particular passion for criminal justice reform and expanding education opportunities in prisons, and has worked with the Bard Prison Initiative, which provides access to higher education for people who are incarcerated.
Walz took on a bigger role than previous Minnesota first ladies when her husband was first elected governor in 2018, becoming the first to have an office in the state Capitol, according to the Star Tribune.
She also announced a substantial policy portfolio that included work on education and criminal justice reform, telling Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), “I feel there are some issues where I can take a lead and I can make my voice known.”
Walz went on to chair a state task force on reducing recidivism and worked directly with commissioners at the state Department of Corrections, according to a 2019 briefing memo, and has also toured prisons, spoken out in support of legislation that expanded voting rights for convicted felons, and told MPR she played a role in staffing her husband’s administration.
Her focus on criminal justice reform marks a turn from other first ladies who have focused on lighter policy issues, with former Minnesota First Lady Susan Carlson telling MPR she had been advised by other first ladies to “stay away from downer issues” that are “controversial.”
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Crucial Quote
When her husband was serving in Congress, Walz worked “behind the scenes on some of the issues, and not necessarily in the forefront,” she told MPR in 2019 when asked about her public advocacy on expanding voting rights for felons, soon after her husband took office. “But this is a different time and a different position. So I’m thinking very carefully about how I approach that with responsibility, with integrity and kind of shine a light on some of those issues that I think Minnesota can get this done.”
Contra
Walz’s policy work hasn’t been without controversy, as she and the governor’s office came under scrutiny in September 2019 when footage was deleted of a panel discussion the first lady participated in about a documentary on criminal justice reform. The discussion turned testy after attendees asked about race within the prison system, MPR reported, with one attendee writing in an email to Corrections Department officials that Walz and other panelists appeared “unprepared to discuss the correlations between race, access to quality education and the U.S. criminal justice system.” The Walz administration later expressed regret for its “overreaction” in trying to ensure footage of the discussion wasn’t circulated. In a statement, the first lady acknowledged “who I am: I’m a middle-aged white woman with privilege — with white privilege.” “And I am on a journey learning what that is about. And I need all of Minnesota to help me and help one another have this conversation.”
What We Don’t Know
What role Walz would take on, if any, should her husband become vice president. In her 2019 interview with MPR, the first lady noted she and the Minnesota governor have historically “always worked really closely together,” which she said shaped her decision to get an office in the Capitol and take on a bigger role in his administration—though it remains to be seen what her thinking could be should they end up back in Washington, D.C.
Key Background
Harris named Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday morning, ending weeks of speculation over her choice as the Minnesota governor’s name was floated alongside such other candidates as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz. The Minnesota governor previously served in the U.S. House before being elected governor in 2018, and prior to his political career served in the Army National Guard and as a social studies teacher, additionally taking on a role as the school’s football coach. Republicans have attacked Walz as being too far left in the hours since he was announced as Harris’ pick, with the Trump campaign claiming that by choosing the governor, “Kamala Harris not only bent the knee to the radical left, she doubled down on her dangerously liberal, weak, and failed agenda.”
