NBC News political correspondent Steve Kornacki said Tuesday that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, does not help the Democrat ticket in blue-collar areas and small communities in key Rust Belt states, based on his 2022 reelection performance in Minnesota.
Kornacki appeared on Meet the Press NOW on Tuesday, where he dove into the contours of the 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial race between Walz and Republican Scott Jensen and how it provides insight into whether or not Walz can make inroads with blue-collar and small-town voters that Democrats have “fallen behind” with.
“If you’re talking about boosting the Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, you’re talking about, ‘Can you do something in those states where Democrats have lost all that ground?’ Looking at what Walz did in Minnesota, you don’t see that value add,” he said.
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Walz, in typical Democrat fashion, performed well in urban areas but poorly in blue-collar areas, small towns, and rural spots. Kornacki noted that the densely populated Twin Cities area propelled Walz to victory, but his poor performance in red “Greater Minnesota” was on par with President Joe Biden’s against former President Donald Trump in 2020, both of which were severe drop-offs compared to President Barack Obama’s more competitive showing in 2012.
For example, Jensen won Stearns County northwest of the Twin Cities over Walz by a margin of 59.8 percent to 36.9 percent, a 22.9-point margin. In 2020, Trump beat Biden there by 22.5 points, garnering 60.1 percent and 37.6 percent, respectively. Trump had an even bigger win over Clinton in 2016 by 27.7 points.
In comparison, Obama was much more competitive than Clinton, Biden, and Walz in these areas a dozen years ago, losing to then-Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by 12 points, as Kornacki’s board showed.
Kornacki savages Walz’s margins in small town MN:
— Philip Letsou (@philipletsou) August 6, 2024
"This is where Dems have lost ground and Walz, in 2022, he didn’t gain any ground.”
"The idea that he’s got this automatic appeal with these small town areas ... you don’t see it in what he actually did on the ballot.” pic.twitter.com/11m74oKUjH
“This is the kind of place Democrats in the pre-Trump era — they weren’t necessarily winning, but they were pretty competitive. And that was true in greater Minnesota, that was true in small-town Wisconsin, that was true in small-town Michigan, and that was true in small-town Pennsylvania,” Kornacki said.
“That is where the floor has fallen out for Democrats since Donald Trump emerged,” he added. “Now, Tim Walz won in 2022, obviously, but he didn’t show any new strength in the parts of Minnesota where the Democrats have really fallen behind in the Trump era.”
Walz is notably a radical left progressive, Breitbart News has noted. For example, he has signed legislation to put women’s hygiene products in boys’ bathrooms, signed legislation allowing for illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses, and ordered Minnesota to be a “trans refugee,” to name a few of his policy views.
His far-left views on a number of issues could hurt the Harris-Walz ticket with crucial swing voters and moderates, especially in areas Kornacki is talking about, such as Spears County and other blue-collar communities throughout the Rust Belt.
