Any governor who describes their state by saying “over the last several months the world has seen our strengths” would normally be suffering delusions of grandeur.
But Tim Walz is the governor of Minnesota, a state that actually was a focus of global attention this winter during Operation Metro Surge.
Walz gave those remarks as part of his State of the State speech Tuesday night before the Minnesota Legislature. It was his last of eight State of the State addresses, and one that seemed more dutiful in recapping moments in history than basking in reflection.
After rattling off extraordinary events, including the state’s response to COVID, the murder of George Floyd, his run for vice-president, the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a school shooting, and the aforementioned immigration raid, Walz understated, “It’s been a complicated seven years.”
He then pivoted to a pet assertion that, “There is, I believe, no better place in America to raise a child.”
Republicans, of course, said they hated the speech. GOP floor leader Harry Niska told reporters afterward that Walz is the “most divisive governor in Minnesota history.”
But the divisions Tuesday night seemed less about gun violence, immigration or even the proper response to social services fraud, and more about the track record Walz amassed when he worked with DFL majorities in the House and the Senate.
So much of the speech consisted of Walz shouting out a policy that passed in 2023 and 2024, such as free school meals and Paid Family and Medical Leave. DFLers would then jump up to hoot and applaud, as Republicans sat in silence and wondered whether to peak at their phone.
“He has a proud legacy,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, told reporters after the speech. “We have a bright future as a result of the work that we have done together.”
Other observations from an evening spent at a security-heavy state Capitol:
The speech at times felt irrelevant to what’s happening in the legislative session.
Last week, House DFL leader Zack Stephenson said that three promising areas of bipartisan agreement this legislative session are a bonding bill, a financial life raft to Hennepin County Medical Center and combating social services fraud.
Walz did give a one-sentence mention to a bonding bill, repeating the $907 million borrowing target first outlined in the supplemental budget.
But he said nothing about Hennepin County Medical Center. And his remarks on fraud, the very issue that torpedoed an aborted run for a historic third term, did not come until the end of the speech.
Moreover, the fraud portion consisted of Walz doubling down “on a proposal to transform our entire Human Services system” that was declared dead the moment the governor first announced it two months ago.
And he did not make the time to spell out support for specific proposals like money toward the state Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and, yes, even the independent office of inspector general, measures that could pass the Legislature but are no sure thing.
What legislative proposals Walz did mention have about as much chance of passing a Minnesota House tied between Republicans and DFLers, as the Timberwolves have to win the NBA title without Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo.
They included reviving an idea from Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, to tax large social media companies with the added caveat of routing the money to help workers displaced by artificial intelligence.
Walz also mentioned expanding a childcare credit that is estimated to add $147 million to the state budget. House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has said that such an item must be offset from spending cuts elsewhere.
Asked how, if at all, Walz’s speech might affect the rest of session, Stephenson said, “I think it is always clarifying when the governor talks about what his priorities are,” adding that combating fraud, gun control, and affordability are “all values or goals that we share.”
I was told some interesting and important figures.
Per the governor:
- “During the first two years of the Minnesota free school meals program, schools served more than 300 million free meals, saving Minnesota families an average of $1,000 per student per year.”
- “We’ve restored the franchise to more than 55,000 previously incarcerated Minnesotans who have paid their debt to society.”
- “Since paid leave officially launched on Jan. 1, we’ve approved more than 54,000 applications for people to take time off.”
I realize one does not come to MinnPost for numbers without context. But here is the context as it relates to the speech: Walz drew the warmest (but entirely partisan) applause when mentioning such policy work instead of the sensational events that have rocked Minnesota.
Walz did not mention President Donald Trump once.
For many months covering Walz, it has seemed like the governor’s public identity was subsumed by a personal confrontation with the president. But besides a reference to “mean tweets,” the outgoing governor steered clear of bashing Trump himself, or even focusing on how the administration has withheld money from Minnesota.
If anything, one (astonishingly) came away from the speech wanting to know more about how Trump’s purported vindictiveness could hurt state finances and the civil rights of its residents.
