4 Reasons to be Excited Governor Tim Walz is Vice President Harris’s Running Mate

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states across the nation have been using their newfound power to ban abortion, taking away pregnant people and women’s ability to control their own bodies and giving that power to politicians.  

Not Minnesota. 

With the bold leadership of Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota has spent the last two years investing in families, children, and health care access. We’ve protected fundamental rights while other states were decimating them. We’ve become a refuge for neighbors who are facing dangerous alternate realities. 

Thanks to Governor Walz, Minnesota has lived up to the nickname: the North Star state. 

As news broke that Governor Walz will be Vice President Harris’s running mate, to say we were excited is an understatement.

For decades, Tim Walz has boldly championed reproductive freedom. As governor he’s proven time and again that he will fight for our right to control our own bodies, lives, and futures. That’s not hyperbole, we’ve got receipts. So here are four reasons we love Governor Tim Walz: 

1. Tim Walz protected the freedom to choose how, when, and if to build your family.

Everyone should have the freedom to control their own bodies, lives, and futures. Every pregnancy is different, which is why every person must be able to make their own decisions about what is best for them, including whether or not to get an abortion, without barriers or political interference.   

Governor Walz signed the Protect Reproductive Options Act (PRO Act) ensuring that all Minnesotans are free to make their own reproductive health care decisions. This includes the right to contraception, the right to carry a pregnancy to term, the right to fertility treatment, and the right to an abortion.¹

2. Tim Walz broke down barriers to accessing essential health care.  

Everyone has a right to health care, and your zip code shouldn’t dictate the care you can access. 

While in Congress, Tim Walz voted for the Affordable Care Act, protecting people with pre-existing conditions and ensuring that Americans no longer have to pay for birth control with a copay.²

In contrast to certain politicians in Congress who blocked common sense legislation to expand birth control access this year, as Governor, Walz signed the Protect Access to Contraception Act, requiring all state-regulated health plans cover FDA-approved contraceptives, counseling, and follow-up services with no out-of-pocket costs and expanding mandatory insurance coverage for birth control to 12 months.³

The Governor also signed omnibus bills that included historical investments like increased abortion care insurance coverage and gender-affirming care insurance coverage, making this sometimes life-saving care more affordable for more Minnesotans.⁴

3. As Governor, Tim Walz stood boldly in support of abortion access.  

The Governor knows that every Minnesotan should get the health care they need, including abortion care, without politicians controlling when, where, or why.  

Both Governor Walz and Vice President Harris have toured the St. Paul Planned Parenthood health center. The Vice President joined Governor Walz during her historic visit to the St. Paul Planned Parenthood in March of this year as the first sitting vice president to go a health center that provides abortions.⁵

Earlier in January 2024, Governor Walz toured the St. Paul health center with Lt. Gov. Flanagan and participated in a roundtable about how we can all work together to make sure people have access to the care that is best for their bodies and futures.  

4. Tim Walz invested in families and children.

The Governor has worked to build systems that help everyone in families, from improving development for infants and toddlers to improving the economic security of mothers and fathers. And he’s supported changes that meet the needs of the communities that face the most significant barriers, like Black, Indigenous, low-income, and rural communities. 

He signed the Paid Family Medical Leave Act creating a state paid family and medical leave program that provides partial wage replacement for 12-20 weeks of leave in a 52-week period for medical leave, bonding, or caring for a family member.⁶

Walz also signed the Dignity in Childbirth and Pregnancy Act to reduce disparities impacting mothers and babies by requiring hospitals that provide obstetric care and birth centers to supply continuing education on implicit bias and anti-racism training and improving the availability of doulas and midwives in communities impacted by the most significant disparities.⁷

He signed a new Child Tax Credit benefitting over 437,000 Minnesota children, with families receiving an average credit of $1244 per child.⁸

And in July he signed the African American Family Preservation Act aiming to increase protections for families who are disproportionately facing separation through the foster care system.⁹

--- 

This election we’re voting for leaders who will protect our rights, expand health care access, and invest in our future. It’s clear, Governor Tim Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris are the champions we need at the White House. Now we’re going to do everything we can to get them there. 

Receipts: 

1. https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-562506#:~:text=The%20PRO%20Act%20establishes%20that,and%20to%20obtain%20an%20abortion.   

2. https://ballotpedia.org/Obamacare_overview#:~:text=The%20House%20passed%20the%20Senate,final%20vote%20at%20219%2D212

3. https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-575115#/detail/appId/1/id/579302   

4. https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-575115#/detail/appId/1/id/579302   

5. https://www.startribune.com/vice-president-harris-makes-historic-visit-to-planned-parenthood-in-st-paul/600351044   

6. https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-575115#/detail/appId/1/id/579303   

7. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2021/1/Session+Law/Chapter/7/  

8. https://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/press-releases/?id=1055-562506#/detail/appId/1/id/639617  

9. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MNGOV/bulletins/3a83828

Paid for by Planned Parenthood of Minnesota Political Action Fund, 671 Vandalia Street, St. Paul, MN 55114 and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.