Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz marveled in a post-election interview that middle-class Americans struggling economically chose billionaire Donald Trump over him and Vice President Kamala Harris, a team he described as a more middle-class ticket by comparison.
Walz, Harris' running mate, sat for a term Interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Thursday as he commented on what he believes went wrong during the Democratic presidential campaign. He concluded that there must have been a disconnect with Harris' campaign messaging to middle-class voters if they continued to vote for a wealthy candidate like Trump.
“I thought it was real resilience when the Wall Street Journal pointed out that I was probably the least wealthy person to ever run for vice president,” Walz told MPR News.
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he was surprised that the Democratic ticket lost to President-elect Donald Trump. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“How did we lose to a billionaire or a venture capitalist, when we were suing the state's attorney and the high school teacher?” he asked later in the interview, comparing his ticket to Trump's.
Walz noted that he believed his more modest economic situation should have attracted voters, and seemed puzzled that this was not the case.
“I thought this would be something people would say, 'Well, this guy knows where we're coming from. He had to pay his bills and he still does,'” he said, referring to himself.
Earlier in the debate, Walz said: “And that's what keeps me up at night, is that I've focused my entire career on focusing on the middle class…and it seems like a lot of good ideas have been coming from Democrats.”
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He continued: “I still believe that, but apparently in this election, the majority of Americans did not. They chose to vote with.” Billionairewho has spoken out about not paying overtime, who has a long history of not paying his workers, and who is the person who wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
Seeing this, Walz concluded that this happened because his party did not convey its middle-class appeal well enough.
“So, I come back to the conclusion, is that we haven't done a good enough job — we as a Democratic Party and as a ticket — we haven't done a good enough job of showing them that we understand where they're coming from,” the governor said.
He added: “And I feel like one of my roles is — going forward here — to figure out a way to make the case to the public, the American public, that the Democratic Party is really focused on the things that they care about.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is comforted by his second best man, Doug Emhoff, as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her conceding remarks at Howard University in Washington on November 6, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
In an interview with the local Minnesota outlet KSTP-TV Last week, the governor admitted that he was surprised to lose his ticket in the 2024 elections.
“I felt during the marches, at the things I was going to, the stores I was going into, that the momentum was going in our direction, and it clearly wasn't at the end,” Walz said. “So, yeah, I was a little bit surprised. I thought we had a positive message and I think the country is ready for it.”
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