FULL INTERVIEW: One-on-one with Gov. Tim Walz

Well, governor, thank you for taking the time. And absolutely, really appreciate you having us here. Let's start with the news of the week. The house is back in session. Were you involved in encouraging or directing any of the DFL boycott efforts in the house? Well, it wasn't a boycott effort. It was a, uh, commitment to make sure that the will of the voters was heard. What we knew was, is we were going to get exactly where we ended up yesterday, which is a power sharing agreement. We have a tie in the house and we just needed to work that out. So my goal was, is to make sure I was making that case. We knew that trying to make sure we were following unprecedented, you know, situation in law to get a special election held and, and just encouraging them to get there. So I do want to thank everybody involved, but I, uh, I appreciate that, um, that it was very difficult. I think a challenge for democratic legislators, but it was critical to understand this was exactly where we're going to be because the Republican position was that they should be in charge for the next two years. Uh, they don't have the majority and that's what they came to yesterday. So we were continuing to do that. We were sending out budget information to them. We were doing the work that needed to do here. Um, and especially over the backdrop of the last three weeks, kind of chaos of making sure legislators were well-versed. Do you support the DFL giving the Republican the speakership of two years? Oh, that was a decision that Speaker Hortman made. And I have come to understand that there is, there is no more skillful legislator and there's no more honorable legislator than Melissa Hortman. And if that's the decision that she made to get this done, my guess is, is, I mean, that's very, you, you ask people, I think there'd be very few people who could make that decision. She did it in the best interest of Minnesota. So if she supports that decision, I certainly do. Obviously not. And you've got to get a budget done. You got to work together to get past this. Uh, one of the key features of your proposal is the changes around sales tax. You can get that through the legislature. Well, we'll see. I think it's, I think it's a valid, uh, discussion. Many governors before Republican, Democrats, independents have, have talked about this. The basic issue is just changing in behavior of people that have moved more towards some of these services like estate planning, those types of things. And those are untaxed while things that the vast majority of Minnesotans use are taxed. So this proposal lowers that tax rate, meaning, you know, 75 to 80% of Minnesotans will actually see a decrease, but some of those services will expand the base and the thing about the sales tax is it's the most, uh, it's the most consistent and dependable of the, of the tax rates that people know exactly what it is, and I would make the case that by expanding it to all the services, uh, as well as goods, uh, it, it makes it fair because right now it's a bit regressive, meaning if you're the richest person in Minnesota, you pay the exact same rate as the poorest person in Minnesota. But if you're the richest person services, like you call your broker, things like that, those are untaxed. Um, if I go get tires for my car, those are taxed. So I just, I think it's got a good chance cause I think it's fair. And, um, we didn't propose anything else other in there. The rest are tax cuts in this. So for every dollar of revenue, there's $8 of cuts. Um, that's probably one of the most conservative budgets I think has been put forward in quite some time. Obviously with the latest budget forecast, you've got potential deficit booming, uh, some of the other key features or proposal are scaling back in terms of disability waivers, special education, reimbursement for transportation. There are some folks who rely on those services who are really concerned about that. What do you say to them? Yeah, well, they're not losing any services and no one's going to be cut. Minnesota ranks first by, by quite some ways on the amount that we spend on this and the way we do this. There's only 13 states that do it the way Minnesota does. And amongst those 13 that were, were the most generous. We're not talking about taking those services away. We're talking about slowing the growth, which means there is no cuts in it. There's a 2% increase built into this, but there's not an unlimited side to it, which if we don't, by 2029, it'll be an eighth of the budget. It'll be about half the budget. And, and I say that because this is an area that I fought my entire life around, whether it's special education, education funding, or, uh, making sure that people with disabilities are treated with dignity. My fear is, is if we don't tackle this, that very program will collapse and won't be able to deliver those services. So I think once people look at this, once they see it, um, they're going to see that this is the surest way. And, and the budget that I propose leaves $2 billion on the bottom line after 26, 27, and, uh, leaves another close to 300 million at the end of, uh, of 27 or 28, 29, that puts us almost back in. Cause I remind Minnesotans, we are in the black. We are one of the most fiscally sound states in the country. We have the largest rainy day funds we've ever had the maximum by law. So we're in a solid spot. This is just looking five to six years out starting to get a handle on this, but I reassure people, no one's talking about cutting services and no one's going to be denied care. You hear the Republicans talk often about saying that the Democrats and the DFL to look through that surplus, that there was too much spending. How do you respond to some of those claims? Well, they had an offer on the table that they could have taken. We did give it back to Minnesotans. We did make the largest tax cut in Minnesota history. We paid back our unemployment insurance. Uh, we made investments in it. Um, these are not Republicans weren't asking to put it in the bank. Republicans were asking for tax cuts for the wealthiest Minnesotans. So they were going to give it back all of it and create a deficit by the long-term tax cuts. So, uh, that is not what happened in this. We still have a $5 billion surplus. Uh, we still do not have it through. What I'm talking about is structural changes that were identified over 15 years ago that no one has addressed. And look, it's not popular to have to address these things because they'll, people will always talk about cuts. They don't want to be specific about it. And when I tell people the state reimburses for special education, for example, a hundred percent, what we're saying is we shifted 5% back down. And we're said, let's find some efficiencies in that, that 5% alone. This, the increase that will happen next year is larger than the entire budget of the DNR. So when people say, well, can you cut somewhere else? There isn't it's it's the bulk of it is here. So I think, um, you know, that, that that's disingenuous that, you know, the Republicans, what were you going to do? You were going to bank it and not give it back. That wasn't their proposal. Their proposal was tax cuts to the wealthiest transferring that way about undermining things like public education, undermining transportation. So, uh, I think Minnesota is nowhere in a solid spot. We're seeing these programs start to come to fruition. Yesterday we announced grants for childcare across Minnesota. Um, that'll be a childcare facility in Hendricks to help support their hospital. Those things make a difference. Moving on from the budget. Uh, this is the first time we've done the chance to sit with the one on one since returning from the national campaign, the latest poll from Quinnipiac showing that 57% of registered voters have an unfavorable view of the democratic party as the most recent vice presidential nominee for the party, where are the Democrats gone wrong? Yeah, well, I think, uh, people have a basic, uh, unfavorable view in politics in general, because what they're seeing is where things grind to a halt. I think one of the things that I look at is the policies we're proposing, whether it's paid family, medical leave, or it's childcare, whether it's healthcare for everybody, whether it's safe working conditions, living wage, those are things everybody wants. But for whatever reason, we've not articulated that. So what they voted for is somebody who thinks we need to cut social security and unelected, you know, whatever Elon Musk is doing, that's not what they voted for. But I think the issue here is, and the disconnect is how did Democrats not articulate to working class voters? But I think, you know, in just 18 days, it hasn't taken long to see the folks in Dearborn are rethinking what they did. You're seeing union members in Utah who now boss their right to collective the bargain, rethinking how they did. I think that gives us an opportunity to articulate. Why are you for the working class? What are you doing for the working class? And, um, cause that's always where our party's been grounded. So I think we've got work to do to get out there. Uh, I think we have to understand this new media environment. Um, because my guess is, is that many people didn't hear it because if they heard me speaking, they shouldn't be surprised by anything that's happening because I talked about it every single day for 90 days, what project 2025 is going to do. But they didn't hear that. And so I think that's where part of this falls. So obviously, you know, it was just three months ago. You had a chance to do that. You know, where do you think the campaign went wrong in that region? We didn't win. Um, that's where we went wrong. You know, I don't know. That'll be for people other than, you know, me to see it was 90 days. There's never been a campaign that short. I think vice president Harris did a great job talking about an opportunity economy for all. She talked about expanding things like Medicare for home care, things that people really care about. Um, and people are hearing the distraction things. I understand today, Donald Trump's trying to get rid of. Does wants to do something on plastic straws that we all need to use plastic to draw. So that's nonsense. Those are things that that isn't what people were telling us about. Eggs are still expensive. Prices are going up. Gas is going up. We're in trade war with our neighbors. Um, I just think, um, we're going to have to understand what does that look like? Where are people getting their information? Where are people who are surprised by this stuff now? Why weren't they hearing that? And I think that is, that's a broader question of what this media environment looks like, but I'm not going to turn away from these policies because look, if you, and I will tell the people down there, if, if they want to try and repeal paid family medical leave, which the Republican said they want to do that polls at 80% Minnesota. Getting guns out of our schools that polls at 90%, you know, background checks and things. So I think Democrats just have to figure out our policies are there. They're making a difference. We got to make sure people hear it. In hindsight, do you feel you were prepared for the national scrutiny of the campaign? Oh, as much as you can. I don't know if anybody anticipates the Iranian government, um, you know, hacking in the Russian government, making fake videos about you. Um, yeah. And I think I'm proud of it. I, I certainly am proud because I got to tell Minnesota story and no matter where I went, um, you know, people, people wanted to hear that story. I like to do the things that Minnesota is doing, but, you know, I don't know in this media environment, um, you know, fact-checking, uh, if it's apples to apples, like, uh, when you, when you're getting a swift boat attack by people who never served a day in the military and somehow my 24 year, it wasn't enough for them. I don't know if you're ever ready for that, but I'm certainly proud of the campaign we ran. I'm certainly proud of the, uh, the approach we took to it and certainly disappointed, um, that we didn't win because what I was most disappointed about was, is what we're seeing now in this chaos is what I knew would come. Do you have aspirations to run for national office again? Oh, I'm, I'm content here to do my job here. Uh, and I said, if I, that was more of a calling, if get asked, I said, I would try and serve. I think Minnesota is doing well. I think you're going to see us bipartisanly come up with a good budget. Um, and I think you just see what happens. I, uh, I got this job for two more years, so I'm going to focus on it. You got to run for your election. Uh, well, I'll decide, I think further down the line, get through this legislative session. I, uh, I, uh, I think the people in Minnesota will determine that. I think, you know, they still appear to be pretty, pretty pleased with the direction we're going and I'll take a look then. What's your relationship like with the lieutenant governor right now? Oh, it's good. We're friends. We work together. Um, I think anytime you do something for six years, uh, whether it's coming through COVID pandemic or whether it's dealing with, uh, you know, the unrest we're seeing now around, or the, the, this, the chaos in this, that there's, there's just a lot of things focusing. So we're working hard. We've done some good things together. Uh, I'm confident we can continue to do that. Would she join you on the ticket again? Oh, that's a decision too far down the road to think about. No, we'll talk about those later. Sure. Coming back to just something else with the legislative session. Yeah. Fraud was obviously a bit of a criticism from some, um, you've had during your administration. Do you see any room with negotiations with what Republicans have proposed to try? Oh yeah. The fry. Yeah, absolutely. I think what we've already put out there may or as much of what they're at, look, any business or any private citizen. When somebody steals from you, you want to do all you can. Um, I think we've seen this across the country. We've seen it at the federal level. We've seen it in independent businesses. We're trying the best. I've asked the legislature to give me some more tools on this. Uh, the BCA has now stood up, but we put it over with the investigators to be able to do this. Uh, as we speak, uh, some of the biggest cases, there's been over 70 people convicted and in prison, uh, recouping that money. I, I think, as I said, Minnesota, we're a generous state, um, but we have to be a little more skeptical and, and I need the tools that, I mean, I think you asked the average person. If an organization committed fraud in the space of education funding and they're still getting money on housing side, maybe we ought to be skeptical of that, the way the law is set up right now, we can't do that. So I think there's an awful lot of room there and I would, I would, uh, I would lift up Republicans. The last time we went through one of these where we had an issue, we had a hundred million dollar cost overrun in the MNLAR system for driver's licenses. Uh, we worked together on that bipartisan, we fixed it together. Now we have one of the smoothest licensing systems in the country. I would hope they do the same thing. So I've looked at a lot of their proposals. I we're, I'm solid with them. And I think, I think we can do it. That's about it. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. I've been grateful. Yep.