After VP run, Walz returns to roots in Minnesota farm country

MORGAN, MINN. — Bounding between tents at an annual gathering of Minnesota’s farmers, Gov. Tim Walz talked shop with agriculture groups, munched on a pork chop on a stick and glad-handed with attendees.

Even in a part of the state where Democrats took a shellacking last fall, Walz is in his element.

“It feels good to be back in this space,” Walz told reporters during an afternoon break at Farmfest. “It feels good to talk bipartisanly. There’s a lot of folks in there that, on ag issues, I think are probably with me.”

This time last year, Walz was named as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, and the attitude toward him at Farmfest was frosty.

At the time, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat, said “you’re not going to find a Democrat in the country who knows more about ag issues” than Walz. But the crowed erupted in boos in response to the comment, portending the campaign’s resounding loss in Minnesota farm country. Walz lost Blue Earth County, where his family lived before he became governor, for the first time since entering politics in 2006.

But his comfort navigating farm country, a skill that garnered him the Democratic nomination for vice president, was on display on Wednesday. Agriculture, he told a crowd gathered for a panel, is economically and culturally vital for Minnesota.

“The one thing that is probably most encouraging to me is that in the Legislature, when we’re debating the ag bill, it’s one of the most bipartisan bills that we have,” Walz said.

“I remind people it wasn’t that many years ago I won all 22 counties in southern Minnesota,” Walz said.

First thing upon his arrival at Farmfest, Walz was put to work flipping pork chops at the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation tent. Walz has always listened to farmers’ concerns and is knowledgeable about agriculture, said Dan Glessing, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation. Glessing notes Walz worked on farm policy while in Congress.

“I think what our membership appreciates is that we do have that ability to voice concerns and advocate for agriculture,” Glessing said.

Glessing said the polarization of politics is likely to blame for Walz’s declining support in Minnesota farm country.

“It’s just kind of the way politics has gone,” Glessing said.

Walz headed next to talk with WNAX, the century-old farm radio station he says played in his childhood home in Nebraska. He swung through tent after tent, shifting from topics such as water quality and trade policy to commodity prices.

Walz knows the region has become tough terrain for Democrats. The Seventh District, where Farmfest is held, is the most conservative in the state. When Walz ran for governor in 2018, he lost the district by 17 percentage points.

The adjacent First District that Walz represented in Congress for 12 years has also shifted to the right. Walz won his home district during his first run for governor in 2018. Four years later, he lost it by more than 7 percentage points. And last fall, the district voted for President Donald Trump by 12 percentage points.

On agriculture issues, though, Walz said there’s a “real sense that we’re in this together.”

“And I kind of get that reception, like, ‘You’re right on ag, but I’m not voting for you,’ which is actually kind of a healthy old-school way of doing business,” Walz said.

“Last year, he kind of missed Farmfest. He was at a little event called the Democratic National Convention … but he’s back here in God’s country, home country at Farmfest,” the event’s forum organizer, Kent Thiesse, said as he introduced Walz to the crowd.

Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish said Walz “does truly understand agriculture” but catches criticism on issues from COVID lockdowns to his handling of the social unrest following the murder of George Floyd.

“It’s easy to criticize,” Wertish said. “You don’t have to necessarily have facts. You can just throw stuff out there, and I think, unfortunately, a lot of that has happened.”

Overall, Wertish said Walz has been a good governor. Voters’ shift toward Republicans in greater Minnesota, he said, is driven by national politics and social media.

“We’ve got such a partisan divide,” Wertish said, “and a lot of it is just fueled by misinformation.”

“He’s another politician. That’s about all I can say,” Stengel said.

Asked if Democrats can regain ground outside the Twin Cities, Walz said people would make up their own minds.

“We’ll see when they go to the ballot box, but I said I’m out here whether they vote for me or not,” Walz said. “My responsibility is to serve them.”