Walz 2028? Everyone Weighs In.
An intra-left discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of a potential Tim Walz run for President
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has generated considerable attention recently, sparking discussion about a potential Presidential candidacy in 2028. The following perspectives appear in no particular order.
says:
He’s a tough one to think about, you know? My instinct is to already label him a “what could’ve been.” I fear in the average voter’s eye he’ll forever be linked to the failed Harris campaign. It’s true he was a flash in the pan for many young voters, myself included, when he was added to the ticket. Almost everything you looked up about the guy’s past and present raised positive eyebrows and felt fresh in a way you would never expect from a middle-aged white Democrat from the Midwest (excuse my coastal elite perception bias). And it’s not to say those things aren’t still true about him — he’s a pro-union, well-read, reasonable left-leaning teacher with some military experience and without ties to big money. I felt I trusted him, I felt like he was honest. I liked that he was a little awkward on stage and felt it actually made him more personable as a public speaker.
But when it comes to running for president in an election more than three years away, what is it that Tim Walz would be able to do to sustain himself in such a loud political conversation for so long? Prior to being hamstrung by the DNC’s urge to appeal to their imaginary moderate, Walz’s fascination among my generation of voters lasted what, three weeks? To jump into the fray as a legitimate contender he’d have to fully break from the Schumercorp’s current aims, and there’s not a lot of signs pointing in that direction as it stands. While he doesn't have decades of prominent national allegiance to The Powers That Be, the stench of his loss may still be too strong.
says:
When he was selected for Kamala’s VP slot, one of the repeated praises of Walz was that he was just a “regular guy.” He was a teacher! A football coach! You could imagine this guy at the tailgate of a Vikings game, patting shoulders and gripping hands and doing the whole “oh hey there, you betcha” routine. Campaign strategists love that kind of folksy charm, as long as the folksiness doesn’t lead to a candidate walking into a Duluth diner and asking the waitresses whether they’ve read Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution. Walz is a normal guy, and America tolerates a normal guy. But is a normal guy enough?
By all accounts Walz seems like a fine governor, and a good person (if such a thing is possible for a politician). But I think it is a massive mistake to preemptively settle for “normal.” If you think—like I do—that Trump is waging a uniquely serious assault not only on the Left, but on the basic institutions of liberal democracy, then the Left opposition needs an exceptional candidate. Can we realistically imagine Tim Walz not only undoing all of the damage done by Trump and Elon Musk, but actively fighting the far-right and waging a yearslong struggle?
As comforting as Walz might be, I suspect that people want a fighter. They want someone that will help build a movement and use power to beat the right. Walz may very well be good enough to win an election, but we shouldn’t settle any longer for “good enough.”
says:
Walz consistently polled over the course of the 2024 election to be the most popular person on either of the two major tickets. He has a progressive record as Governor of Minnesota, but also has a track record of winning in conservative areas as a congressman - on an anti-Iraq war platform no less, focusing on providing good service and being close with his constituents’ needs to win them over. This shows he has excellent political instincts, and this is coupled with a great charisma.
When he did a sit down video with some undecided voters you really got a feeling he could properly communicate with these guys, instead of displaying the standard Dem thing of every word being rehearsed and focused grouped ten times over. His weaknesses are the supposed “loser stink” and bad debate skills, but you know who else lost an election and has bad debate skills? Two term President Donald Trump. Shawn Fain is still my personal favorite, but Walz is a close second.
says:
In 2024, Tim Walz was the victim of poor management from the Biden people running the campaign. He was the one who coined the whole "Republicans are weird" attack that stuck pretty well until they just...stopped using it. He wasn't utilized to his strengths until the final two weeks of the campaign, and yet for some reason, only he is taking responsibility and accountability for losing.
And this doesn't say anything about his record as a governor. I can just say he's “the free school meals guy” and people would love him for it, but he also did many other good things with a one seat majority in Minnesota: banning forever chemicals, banning conversion therapy, paid family leave; dude not only talks the talk, but walks the walk.
With that said, there are weaknesses in a potential Walz 2028 bid. He's simply Not A Good Debater, and he admits this. And if he was able to be neutered by the Biden campaign staffers, there's a chance he'd be neutered by National Dems as well. But the reason I feel more comfortable in supporting Walz at this stage is a combination of his record and name recognition (albeit there may be loser stench associated with that as well).
A lot of people opposing Walz for his perceived weaknesses also support Dem politicians with their own problems (e.g. Senators Warnock and Ossoff voted for the Laken Riley Act, accepting the right wing framing on immigration and removing due process for detained immigrants). This is why I'm against anyone in the U.S. Senate running for president as well. I see the Dem's next leader as a state level guy willing to stand up for the working class and marginalized communities against the Trump Administration’s assaults, and Walz has the record to back up the claim that he's a fighter. He's not perfect, but at least as of now he's my frontrunner to lead the Dems out of the darkness.
says:
No one is voting for this guy in ‘28, come on…Walz was on a ticket where Trump won the fucking popular vote after being convicted of 34 felonies, $400 Million in fraud, impeached twice, said “immigrants poison the blood of America,” etc., etc. Anyone even tangentially associated with the Biden/Harris 2024 fiasco needs to be launched into the sun via trebuchet.
I’ll die on this hill: Walz is a loser. I like Walz and generally like his politics! But I’m sorry, he is a loser. Walz will never win a general election. He would lose worse than Harris. You’re all wrong.
says:
I like Tim Walz as an executive. He seems to be a decent enough person with his head in the right place. I have mixed feelings on him as a candidate. On the positive side, he does seem to be taking advantage of the position he has been placed in to advocate for good things. He is maybe the only Democrat ever to straight up say that the ACA was not enough and tacitly encourage Medicare for All, though I think Dems are still too scared to come out and say those words.
Contrast this with Chris Murphy's appearance on The Daily Show when he pivots off discussing healthcare a few times and the closest he gets is talking about drug prices. Murphy's response tells me he has some semblance of what's going on with the base, but Walz also does and has more progressive solutions. He also still has some attack dog qualities in him that were not entirely beaten out by the Harris campaign, most notably his comments about being happy to see Tesla stock in the red. And his attacks on Republicans were the most effective rhetorical tactics. It's one of the reasons the Harris campaign was pressured to select him. I hope he continues to do so now that he's no longer under their thumb.
All that being said, I have more than a couple gripes with him as a candidate. Maybe most notably: he is a loser. He unfortunately has the Biden/Harris stink and he has some serious work to do to wash that off. He is also obviously not an outsider. He holds the same awful positions on several hot button issues with the left that any other Democrat holds. I'm not convinced that the 2028 nominee will be an outsider, but I would prefer that and he does not fit that mold. This last one may be a more personal gripe, but he is a horrific debater. We already have a preview of what the '28 race could look like on the debate stage if Walz were the candidate, and I do not like what I see. Vance being able to look like the calm intellectual with Walz coming off as a bit of a rube who is for some reason agreeing with Vance on many of his most important points was brutal to watch and only gives credence to these talking points. I don't necessarily think the debate itself matters, but I want my candidate as hostile to Republican talking points as possible.
There are only a few candidates who in my opinion are basically actively campaigning for the 2028 nom already. Newsom is doing his stupid podcast, Murphy can't stay off TV and Walz is up on stage admitting that the campaign he was a part of let the American people down. Maybe I'm forgetting a few others, but those are the top 3 I see, and out of those 3, it's Walz in a landslide. There are better candidates, though, and unless Walz does a lot of work to convince me over the next two years, I'd rather see someone more progressive and less associated with the establishment on the stage in 2028.
says:
Of all the prospects for the 2028 Democratic ticket, Tim Walz is my preference. He's no socialist, but I'm fond of his domestic agenda. As Minnesota governor, Walz increased paid sick leave, instituted universal free school meals, legalized weed, introduced free college, and established a sectorial bargaining unit for healthcare workers. All of this was done with a one-seat majority in the state senate, which indicates he's inclined to act on promises to voters rather than letting his agenda be blocked by archaic processes.
Walz also seems to be among the few national Democrats who understand the modern Republican Party. His "weird" attack worked pretty well during the campaign, and he's spent the last few months chastising Musk and Trump personally. As the only thing the left and centrist wings of the Democratic party agree on is the need to fight Trump's agenda, Walz is well-positioned to win a primary and contest Republican fascism with a pro-worker, social-democratic message.
However, I'm concerned about his stance on Palestine. While he held the Democratic line on "supporting Israel," as the Democratic Party is now more favorable to the Palestinian plight than Israelis, I'm hoping Walz stays in touch with the base and advocates for justice, both internationally and domestically.
says:
Walz might be the best example we have of a liberal policy wonk who is advocating for real, concrete solutions without means-testing them into nothingness. The downside he has is he can come off as "soft", but the further left you are, the more you see this as a strength. I think the best way to mitigate that downside is to show the strength he does clearly (at times) possess... He needs to lean into being a firebrand, when a point needs to be driven home.
The good news is, recently, we've seen that Walz understands this. When talking to Gavin Newsom about Trump's cronies, he said he could "kick most of their ass[es]." This is clearly pushing back on Republicans portraying him as "weak" because he's empathetic, and genuinely is open about how much he cares about people.
Walz was put in a box by playing second fiddle to Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election; I'm excited to see if he keeps up this recent behavior, as he increasingly plays a lead role in his own individual political story. I'm not sure if he's the right person for the job in 2028, but he could be if he keeps on his current trajectory, and I'm looking forward to finding out.
says:
The last cycle has proven that campaign strategy, often more than the candidate, can sink a winnable election. Think about how quickly everything went to shit after it was revealed that Kamala kept the Biden campaign people and hired David Plouffe. “Lethal military.” The Cheney bearhug. Saying she wouldn't do anything different from Biden. There was momentum there that was squandered; a victory for the Dem establishment, a loss for literally everyone else.
Yes, Walz has some top-tier name recognition among the current pundit-speculated potential candidates. Yes, Walz is shit at debates but can learn in 3 years. Yes, if Walz truly isn't all that, he won't make it past the grueling primary process. Yes, the moves he made behind the scenes over 2023-24 —before the veepstakes became official—show that he has the potential for shrewd political operation. That's all him.
None of that matters if he goes on stage at the DNC and spouts some bullshit about the “abundance agenda,” “Israel's expansion,” or whatever a centrist advisor deems a good message. He already has the baggage of one failed campaign; if he were to repeat those same talking points, listening more to the Rahm Emanuel type than the Bernie Sanders type, perhaps the problem would go deeper than just “Coach Walz.” Unless we see the mythical Dem Tea Party come together, though, I'm not counting on these failings being solved from within—especially not from fellow Minnesotan and "good billionaire" imagineer Ken Martin.
To Walz's credit, his red-state apology tour seems to indicate that he is aware of these failings, at least in the abstract, and maybe he does have a shot if he keeps this momentum up. But if, even then, the loser stink is still a death knell for his chances, perhaps we can pull a Moneyball and recreate him in the aggregate anyway. (Bashear/Moore, anybody?) We just need the right strategists.
says:
This entire post is an outgrowth of a seemingly endless intra-left debate about one politician’s chances in a race that is years from even starting. We have barely scratched the surface of the evidently vibrant question of Walz 2028—which means he’s doing something right already. The biggest argument for Walz right now is that he seems to understand the modern attention economy driving political outcomes: the more you say, do, and engage, the more power and influence you have.
Governor Walz is driving coverage by holding town halls in Republican-represented districts, he’s hitting the podcast circuit, and more or less shitposting on Twitter. But while California Governor Gavin Newsom pursues a similar attention-grabbing strategy, he has pivoted to the right while Walz has pivoted back to the left. He’s methodically distinguishing his prognosis for the party and the country from the failed approach of his presidential campaign with Kamala Harris. It seems like every day he gets a little bolder and more brutal in his critique of the Democratic party status quo.
And he’s owning up to that campaign’s failures. Walz is doing something extraordinarily rare in politics: admitting he was wrong. This approach will serve him because it’s authentic and it happens to be true. If Walz is going to win the party nomination and the 2028 general election, he will have to cultivate a clear and potent message that rails against Trump, Biden, and indeed, Kamala Harris. If we see Walz taking the stage with Bernie Sanders and AOC, that will signal the party nomination has become his to lose.
ICYMI, check out these related essays:
The Transformational Tim Walz
Walz moved to disarm Trump and Vance by presenting them as a joke rather than a threat. He took their greatest advantage, their perceived strength, and turned it into their greatest weakness. He swift-boated them.
4 Years Ago Today, AOC Became Our Next President
The 2028 Democratic primary hasn’t officially begun, but those who step into the breach now will bond with the base and fill the power vacuum that occurs when a party controls no branches of government and its only popular president – Barack Obama – chooses to sit back and more or less leave the world behind. Nobody vying for higher office has the degree of charisma and communications brilliance of AOC, and what’s more: her world view and political brand are deeply rooted in the anti-system, populist energy currently coursing through the country’s political veins.
Dean Phillips for President. Again.
Where have you gone, Dean Phillips? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
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I really don't understand the 'loser' argument when Trump lost in 2020 and it didn't effect him at all in 2024. I really don't think the American people will care
Of all these commentators, Evan is closest to right. Let’s take down Mango Mussolini and the Space Nazi first. A legitimate democrat will emerge, IF, and yes that’s a very big if, the DNC doesn’t insert itself and fuck everything up yet again. That person might be Walz, or it might be any of a host of other people. It’s too early to tell. Let’s focus on wiping out the orange shit-stain.