Minnesota Democrats come together around Harris-Walz ticket — some happily, some uneasily

Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Tim Walz has helped electrify a Democratic base that was barely engaged with presidential politics earlier this summer.

Activists, party officials and down-ballot candidates say the attention, memes and polling favorability are matched by energy on the ground, as measured in donations, volunteers and the level of excitement they hear from likely voters.

“In all my years of being a candidate for the Legislature, I have never seen anything like I have seen,” said Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, who is running for a fourth term.

It was hard for Democrats to imagine anything resembling the excitement of the rallies for Harris and Walz just two months ago, when even strong Biden supporters saw voters in the doldrums.

“A concern that I had was an electoral depression,” said Elizer Darris, a criminal justice reform activist who had been a delegate for President Joe Biden to the national convention in Chicago and will now back Harris.

After the June 27 debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump, Minnesota Democrats were nervous. How could the faltering 81-year-old at the top of the ticket help the DFL hang onto their trifecta and keep U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in her swing Second District seat?

Then Biden dropped out of the race.

The day the president endorsed Harris, Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said he was all-in on Harris to lead the ticket, and that Walz would be a “fantastic” choice for vice president — echoing an endorsement a few days earlier from Rep. Betty McCollum.

A couple of weeks and a few dozen “weirds” later, Walz was on the ticket.

“The enthusiasm has gone from medium to high,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park.

“It’s like an electric transformation,” said Wolgamott, a delegate to the national convention.

Within a few weeks, the Harris campaign schedule grew from invite-only events with a few supporters to arena rallies.

Wolgamott said he thinks Harris will be an effective messenger for Democrats, not only in liberal parts of Minnesota, but in districts in St. Cloud and in smaller cities, especially on abortion rights. He’s in what could be a tight race against conservative activist Sue Ek.

Though the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned more than two years ago now, Wolgamott said abortion restrictions in other states, including a six-week ban implemented in Iowa this summer, are keeping the issue fresh.

“There’s just a general spirit of joy among candidates,” Hortman said. “It’s beyond a feeling. It’s backed up by data.”

The DFL said the party raised over $100,000 in grassroots donations online the day Walz was picked, surpassing the fundraising numbers in the days after Biden dropped out. In the week after Walz was named to the ticket, the party said double the number of volunteers were door knocking and phone banking compared with the previous week, and 600 people showed up for three watch parties for the first Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia.

State Sen. Kelly Morrison, running for a U.S. House seat, said she has seen a major uptick in donations and people looking to volunteer in her race against former legislator and Hennepin County judge Tad Jude.

Hortman said the excitement and Walz’s potential coattails could expand the number of House seats the DFL hopes to flip in November.

Still, not everyone on the left is over the moon.

For some progressives, especially those who oppose Israel’s war in Gaza, Walz is no different from other major-party politicians. After a meeting of the State Board of Investment on Wednesday — Walz was not there, he was on the campaign trail — antiwar protesters chanted, “Tim Walz, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

But others on the left hope their concerns will be better received by a Harris-Walz ticket. Harris called for a cease-fire before Biden, and Minnesota progressives have found more to like in the Walz administration, especially union members.

“I feel more hopeful with Kamala Harris,” said Eve Sussman, a Minneapolis progressive voter. Sussman said the war in Gaza was discouraging, especially Biden’s apparent embrace of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Deep down, I would love someone even more progressive than her,” Sussman said. But ultimately, she said she will likely vote for the Democratic ticket.

Darris said Harris’ past as a prosecutor gave some criminal-justice-reform advocates pause.

“There’s been a lot of really robust conversation,” he said. No candidate is perfect, Darris said, but he’s committed to the Harris ticket now, and excited to support the vice president.

Even if the ticket isn’t perfect for every Democrat, the Harris-Walz campaign may have brought together the centrist and left wings of the Democratic party, and gotten people more excited about the campaign than they were two months ago.

“I think they’re going to move the nation in a way that’s more inclusive, in a way that offers more liberty, in a way that offers more justice, in a way that offers more opportunity,” Darris said of Harris and Walz. “And those are all values that I support.”