DULUTH, Minnesota. – The chairman of the Republican Party of a rural county in central minnesota is criticizing the prevailing media narrative that Gov. Tim Walz is a “moderate,” telling Fox News Digital that rural voters across the country are being “misled” by that argument.
“I have a message for the majority of our rural people here and anyone else who may be watching this: Please, you are being misled,” Lowell Smith, a state university educator and chairman of the Crow Wing County Republican Party in Brainerd, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital.
“You're being conned. He's lying to you. He's not for rural America. He's only interested in very liberal policies that would be adopted by the elite. He's not for us. Basically, he's… You can't remember who said it, but he really is. Bernie Sanders and flannel. They're trying to sell him as if he's not that. But he's a flannel-clad liberal. He's against the Second Amendment. He's not for rural America.”
Smith continued: “Governor Walz's values are not at all in line with much of rural Minnesota, or much of rural America. He originally ran to try to be a moderate, but every policy he's taken, everything he's done since he was elected, has been ultra-liberal and nothing has reflected that he's a moderate at all, so it made perfect sense for Kamala Harris to choose him as her running mate.”
Smith told Fox News Digital that when he talks to rural Minnesota voters, “everyone is really angry” because Walz “let the state burn for about four days” during the George Floyd riots in 2020 that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
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A chairman of Minnesota's rural Republican Party told Fox News Digital that Gov. Tim Walz is trying to “trick” rural voters.
Smith also highlighted the tax policy and business climate under Walz's leadership in Minnesota, saying Democrats in control of the state have “squandered” a $17 billion surplus under Walz's leadership.
The nonpartisan Tax Foundation's 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index released in October 2023 ranked Minnesota as having the 44th best tax climate for businesses in the country.
An analysis released in January by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Minnesota's tax code was the most progressive of the 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a more progressive tax code.
“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal decisions they make,” Walz said. He told a crowd in Philadelphia on abortion during his presentation as Kamala Harris's vice presidential candidate. “Even if we didn't make the same decision, there's one golden rule: mind your own business.”
Smith told Fox News Digital that rural Minnesota voters disagree with that statement given Walz's record on COVID, which has been widely criticized by the Republicans.
““Their policies did not reflect that at all,” Smith said. “They set up a hotline where you could basically report a neighbor if they weren't wearing a mask or if they were keeping their business open and that would result in civil penalties.”
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Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event Aug. 7, 2024, in Detroit. Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz are campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnik)
“That reminded me a little bit of what happened here during communism, when you had family spying on family, and that's not what we in rural Minnesota really believe in.”
Smith told Fox News Digital that residents in her county colloquially refer to Walz as “Tampon Tim” because of his policies on transgender issues, including allowing menstrual products to be placed in school bathrooms across the country, including boys' bathrooms. pushed back against that line of attack, but Smith says Walz has essentially made Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for transgender issues.
““He embraced that transgender ideology, so much so that he turned Minnesota into a sanctuary state, where if you’re a minor in Iowa or South Dakota or North Dakota and your parents don’t agree with you, you can drive to Minnesota and at that point, for lack of a better term, Minnesota can take possession of you and allow you to get that transgender surgery or health care without your parents’ consent or even knowledge,” Smith said. “Even in Minnesota, if your child is gender confused, the state can step in and take your child away from you and allow health care directives to be directed toward your child against the parents’ wishes. That just doesn’t sit well with us here.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gesture during a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas on Aug. 10, 2024. (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
Smith told Fox News Digital that Brainerd residents are so fed up with Walz's policies that a local business along Highway 10 in Royalton, Minnesota, put up a sign that was seen by thousands of motorists that featured Walz with his head inserted into his butt and read: “Governor Walz, Northern Minnesota is trying to see things from your point of view. Sponsored by Rocks & Cows of the North.”
“Rocks & Cows” refers to a comment Walz made in 2017 about rural America that the Trump campaign has seized on, but some say was… taken out of context
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Fox News Digital asked Smith what issues rural voters in his county say they care most about in the November election.
“The three main issues we hear first and foremost are our national budget as it relates to our money,” Smith explained. “We want to make sure we have a strong economy and that doesn't seem to be going very well. The next step will be crime control. Crime is out of control in most democratically controlled areas and people want to be safe in their neighborhoods and in their homes.”
“Lastly, there would be border control, which would be the massive flooding or what we hear here, as they call it, an invasion of other countries into our country every week. Those are the three things I hear the most from the people in our county..”
Fox News Digital reached out to Harris Walz's campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
