Tolkkinen: Tim Walz might not be the rural charm Democrats are hoping for

MORGAN, MINN. – After Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, the political world speculated that his rural background could help her win over rural America.

But election maps and attendees at Farmfest in southwest Minnesota hint at a different outcome.

Hours after the announcement, the reaction among attendees at the annual gathering was less than thrilled.

Retired farm worker Arnold Gerdes of Luverne called the announcement a “joke.”

“We don’t need anybody like him in there,” he said.

Farmfest takes place in Trump country. Trump signs, hats and stickers bobbed around the fairgrounds. People here haven’t forgotten Walz’s 2017 comment about rural districts that contain more “rocks and cows” than voters, a comment he says was taken out of context but that has come to reflect a belief among many rural voters that they don’t matter.

Rural Minnesota is not a monolith, of course, and Walz has his supporters as well. But his visits to rural Minnesota carry the feel of walking into the teeth of the dragon. Many rural residents chafed at his orders during the pandemic in 2020 that required masks, closed nonessential businesses in those early weeks, and banned evictions for nonpayment of rent.

In 2021, when he visited Douglas County to witness the impact of the drought on a local farm, some of the farmer’s own family stayed away, and other family members told me they didn’t wish to meet him. When a Pope County sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed in 2023, Walz didn’t attend the funeral at the family’s request.

In 2022, he lost heavily to opponent Scott Jensen in rural Minnesota, winning re-election primarily through the support of the Twin Cities metro area and several cities in greater Minnesota.

At Farmfest, critics said they resent Minnesota Pollution Control Agency regulations under Walz’s leadership that force automakers to deliver more electric vehicles for sale in Minnesota, as part of the state’s adoption of California emission standards.

Wayne Golden, who farms between Montevideo and Benson, said he isn’t against electric vehicles. But he is against mandates, and says rural Minnesota lacks the infrastructure to support them.

“How am I going to start up an EV in the winter to go feed my cattle?” he said. “It burns my butt, following this California mandate.”

If Walz had promoted ethanol with the vigor he promoted California emissions standards, he said, he might have more friends in rural Minnesota, at least among corn growers.

And, of course, there were the riots following the death of George Floyd. Walz was slow to call out the National Guard, and rural Minnesotans, who have many ties to the Twin Cities despite their geographical distance, were appalled to watch footage of buildings on fire in Minneapolis.

When Walz first ran for office, rural Minnesotans appreciated a candidate who hunted, who owned guns, who had been a teacher and part of the National Guard. He seemed a centrist who understood rural Minnesota. But once he became governor, according to some at Farmfest, it felt like he was listening more to his party than he was to his constituents. And that perception shows in the voter maps. He took a drubbing in rural Minnesota in both the 2018 and 2022 elections, but his showing worsened significantly in 2022.

Perhaps there was nothing Walz could have done to win over rural Minnesota. Even U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who is still talked about with great respect among farmers and was widely liked in his district, was booted out of office once the rural tide turned against Democrats. Why the Democratic brand has turned toxic in rural Minnesota, once a Democratic stronghold, is a puzzle with many pieces. It’s not only a statewide story but a national one.

Probably the environmental and middle-class bent of the Democratic Party has turned off some farmers. There are fewer farmers nowadays. Farming has become big business, perhaps making them more open to Republican tax policies. Even those who aren’t wealthy resent being seen as an environmental problem — even though some farming practices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

Whatever the reason, maybe because they see Republicans as their champions, rural America has largely turned red. It will take more than camouflage and hunting stories to get them to take another look at the Democratic Party.