WYOMING, Minn. — A Minnesota Republican recently told Fox News Digital that Gov. Walz is “far from” a moderate, providing examples of why he believes the governor's policies are so “evil” that they're difficult to even explain to voters.
“I mean, there has to be a new word to replace 'moderate,' because he's not anywhere near the center,” Minnesota Republican Sen. Mark Cohan told Fox News Digital. “The most extreme policies we have, and as a conservative Republican in Minnesota, it's the hardest thing to explain to you the bills that have been passed in the last few years. The agenda is so heinous, it strips away parental rights, it has transgender ideology that puts children at risk. He signed all of those bills, but my view is that when we try to educate our kids, most people don't believe it because it's so extreme.”
Colan told Fox News Digital that Republicans were able to work with Walz's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, even if they disagreed, but that in Minnesota, the DFL party controls the state Legislature and Walz is operating in a “very different environment” with proxy voting and the “significant power” the Democratic Party wields.
“They have a lot of power in the separation of powers, but they don't have the authority,” Colan said. “They only have a majority in the House, and in Minnesota they only have a majority in the Senate by less than 1,820 votes… They have no authority for a radical political agenda. So to me, the most functional element of Governor Walz's words about protecting our democracy is supporting policies and procedures that destroy the very foundation of our system of governance.”
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Minnesota Republican Sen. Mark Cohan told Fox News Digital that Gov. Tim Walz's policies are out of sync with what Minnesota voters want.
“He sponsored and signed every bill passed by the Legislature this year that makes simple rule changes and adds proxy voting. Minnesota lawmakers no longer have to show up; they just count the votes. This has taken away full representation for all Minnesota voters and has actually given them ultimate power and a legislative agenda that the voters did not give them.”
Colan told Fox News Digital that Governor Walz's record on a range of important issues raises serious questions about whether he can serve effectively as vice president, particularly regarding Governor Walz's response to the 2020 Minneapolis riots following the death of George Floyd.
“He was very close as a member of the National Guard and should have been deployed as soon as the riots started. They knew it was going to happen. They should have been deployed immediately and they should have been deployed ready to go,” Colan said. “There should have been no hesitation.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, US Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, delivers a speech on the third day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, USA on August 21, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Seeger)
“They decided to leave the police station unattended and let civil unrest continue for days on end. And then, looking back at the investigation, I think when they finally called in the Guard, the National Guard leaders basically had to ask themselves, 'What is our actual mission?'” Colan continued.
They had no instructions. That's hard for people to understand. I grew up in St. Paul and the fire spread half a block or five houses from where I raised my kids,” he added. “The reason St. Paul responded a little better is because the police acted differently than they were allowed to in Minneapolis. But he's the leader of the state and he should have acted decisively and he didn't.”
Colan also took aim at Governor Walz's leadership on the coronavirus response, who has been loudly criticized by Republicans for his tough enforcement measures, including pushing for the establishment of a tip-line system that allows neighbors to “snitch” on each other about coronavirus lockdown violations.
“If you look at Minnesota, you see them making up graphs and numbers and making political plays about what the problem is,” Colan said of the early days of the pandemic. “For the first two weeks, we were trying so hard to understand what this was all about. And two weeks in, we had no data. They wouldn't share the data with us. I represent 85,000 people as a council member. They wouldn't share the data with us.”
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz greets Vice President Kamala Harris as she arrives on stage during a campaign rally at the University of Nevada, Thomas and Mack Center, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. (LE Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“The data that we know today just didn't line up with the actual outcomes to justify the actions taken in Minnesota and keeping people in their homes. We were probably not the most extreme, but we were certainly one of the states that shut down and crushed small and medium-sized businesses, closed churches, and basically took away the civil rights that we have within the state of Minnesota. He failed terribly in that regard.”
Asked if there was one thing voters across the country should know about Walz if they are getting to know him for the first time now, Colan said the governor is “very skilled at saying a lot of things and saying nothing at the same time.”
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“He's already proven himself to be in favor of some of the most radical progressive policies that exist around the world,” Koran said.
“If you look at the political agenda and the policies that they've passed, he's not a good man for Minnesota. He's not a good man for the country. He's already agreed to throw out the Constitution, the foundational system of our governance, and while the vice president has no significant defined role, he's already agreed to be complicit in the most extreme agenda against American, against hard-working, lawful American citizens. That has no place in the White House.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris-Waltz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
