Talk about a brutal rejection. Democratic VP candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz didn’t just lose the national race to President-elect Donald Trump; he couldn’t even win his home turf in Minnesota’s Blue Earth County, a place he called home for two decades.
Trump took Blue Earth County with a solid 49.6% of the vote, while Harris and Walz came up short with just 48.3%. This flip is even more telling considering Biden won the county back in 2020 with 51% over Trump’s 46.5%, according to Politico. So what changed? Apparently, the people closest to Walz have seen enough to know he wasn’t the choice they wanted this time around.
To give some context, Walz moved to Minnesota as an adult, built a career as a teacher and football coach at Mankato West High School, and eventually entered politics by flipping the 1st Congressional District for the Democrats in 2006. He served 12 years in Congress and later became Minnesota’s governor in 2018 with a comfortable win. But this time, even his long-time neighbors weren’t on board with the Harris-Walz ticket.
Though Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes eventually went to Harris, Trump’s success in traditionally blue regions shows the Democrats can’t keep relying on the old playbook. The last time Minnesota backed a Republican presidential candidate was way back in 1972 for Richard Nixon. With Trump pulling close to taking Minnesota, it’s clear the GOP message resonates more than the Dems would like to admit.
In the end, Walz’s home-county loss serves as a reminder: the Democrats’ hold on these so-called “blue strongholds” is anything but ironclad. Trump’s message of economic opportunity, border security, and a government accountable to the people is resonating deeply with voters across the country, including right in the backyard of career politicians like Walz.
