Five controversies surrounding vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, from DUI to COVID fraud

Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Midwestern governor, Army National Guard veteran and former football coach and teacher Tim Walz to be her 2024 running mate after a hurried, intense two-week vetting process. 

Walz, 60, is a veteran politician who served in the U.S. Congress from 2007 until 2018, when he was elected governor of Minnesota, defeating Republican Jeff Johnson. He was re-elected to a second term in 2022 after fending off a challenge from Republican Scott Jensen. 

Progressives have praised Walz's strong support for unions and record of accomplishments as governor, which include codifying abortion rights into the state constitution, enacting universal free school breakfasts and lunches for students, regardless of income, and making Minnesota a refuge for children seeking transgender medical procedures. 

This strong progressive record and Walz's plainspoken demeanor reportedly thrilled the Harris campaign, which sought a partner who could reinforce the Democratic ticket's strength in Midwestern battleground states. But there are several controversies tied to Walz's tenure as governor that Republicans have already begun to use in their attacks on his record.

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Here are a few: 

1995 DUI Arrest 

Walz in past campaigns has sought to downplay his arrest for drunk driving in the mid-90s, but questions about his run-in with law enforcement continue to dog him. A 2022 report by Alpha News unearthed court records that cast doubt on the version of the story Walz has told on the campaign trail.

On Sept. 23, 1995, when Walz was working as a teacher in his home state of Nebraska, he was pulled over for going 96 mph in a 55-mph zone. 

In comments to reporters, Walz's 2006 campaign for Congress in Minnesota's 1st District insisted he was "not drunk" and blamed a "misunderstanding" with police on "Walz's deafness," which the governor's then-campaign manager said had since been "surgically corrected." 

But a state trooper's report obtained by Alpha News contradicts those claims. 

"A strong odor of alcoholic beverage was detected emitting from Mr. Walz[‘s] breath and person," the report said. The trooper indicated that Walz submitted to and failed both a field sobriety test and a preliminary breath test. He was eventually taken to Chadron Hospital for a blood test before being booked in the Dawes County Jail.

Walz was initially charged with driving under the influence and speeding, but he pleaded guilty to a single count of reckless driving, according to Alpha News. 

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Black Lives Matter Riots

Walz's critics say his handling of the Minneapolis riots after the 2020 killing of George Floyd was a failure and low point of his first term as governor.

"[H]e's been a disaster for Minnesota and is by far the most partisan governor that I can remember having," Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann told Fox News Digital. "Going back to 2020, certainly – he did nothing to try to stop the riots going on in Minneapolis. I think he was fearful of alienating his ‘progressive’ base, who were supporting the riots. Kamala Harris was raising money for the rioters."

Walz deployed the National Guard to stop the violence, which included the torching of a police station. But GOP lawmakers have said both the governor and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were too slow to act. 

Republican state Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka accused Walz of a slow response to the riots, which left businesses in downtown Minneapolis in ruins.

"I called the White House after [four] days of unbridled rioting with the Governor frozen on what to do," Gazelka wrote on X on July 28. "I know that Gov[.] Walz and Pres[ident] Trump talked. I know Walz finally brought the Guard out in full for the next night. But Walz was [three] days too late. Pressure may have made him move."

Hann similarly said Walz "waited for three days before he could bring himself to ask for the National Guard to be deployed." He also pointed to the "defund" police movement's roots in Minnesota following Floyd's murder and subsequent rioting in the Twin Cities.

As a result of the delayed action, hundreds of businesses across Minneapolis and St. Paul were devastated by the destruction and had to ask their local government for help recovering – on top of what they lost during pandemic-related closures.

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COVID-19 Lockdowns

In his first term as governor, Walz oversaw Minnesota's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other Democratic leaders, he favored heavy-handed pandemic restrictions, including lockdowns and mask mandates. 

The Upper Midwest Law Center unsuccessfully challenged Walz's 2020 indoor mask mandate on constitutional grounds, but an appellate court sided with Walz.

Walz also set up a hotline to report residents who violated COVID-19 mandates, as FOX 9 Minneapolis reported at the time.

Gazelka asked Walz to "please take [the] Hotline down" in a post after it was established, calling the move "unnecessary."

"We can all show a bit of kindness to our neighbors as we manage our times and needs differently in the stay at home efforts," the state senator said at the time.

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Pandemic Relief Fraud Investigation

In addition to complaints over Walz's pandemic-era restrictions, Republicans have blamed the governor for lax oversight of pandemic programs that cost millions of taxpayer dollars.

Federal prosecutors charged 70 people with defrauding federal food programs that funded meals for kids during the pandemic out of $250 million on Walz’s watch. Known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, it’s one of the country’s largest pandemic aid fraud cases. The Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan watchdog, delivered a scathing report in June that said Walz’s Department of Education "failed to act on warning signs," did not effectively exercise its authority and was ill-prepared to respond.

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Interference in Police Shooting Case

Walz came under fire from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty earlier this year for his comments on a police shooting case handled by her office.

Moriarty in June dropped the case against Minnesota State Trooper Ryan Londregan, who was accused in the fatal shooting of Black motorist Ricky Cobb II. In a press conference announcing her decision, she made remarks against Walz, saying he had been "very active in inserting himself into this case" and was conflicted since he controls the Minnesota State Patrol, FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul reported. 

"Have you ever seen this governor intervene in any case involving a defendant in his entire tenure?" Moriarty said on June 3. "Why is it appropriate for a governor, who has never picked up the phone to call me, who is not a lawyer, who does not understand the nuances of this case, to talk about it publicly? To center Mr. Londregan as being the victim in this case. Why has that been appropriate? Why hasn’t that been called out?"

Walz later told reporters that had Moriarty not dropped the charges against Londregan, he would have used his executive authority to remove her from the case.

"It was my hope that the county attorney would get to this position… At some point, if this decision had not been made, yes we would have done that," Walz said. 

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office denied that rumors of Walz's intention to remove the case affected Moriarty's decision. 

Fox News Digital's Audrey Conklin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.