As Harris picks Walz, George Floyd riots resurface as election issue
When Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday,聽it energized many Democrats for聽the 13-week Election Day sprint that lies ahead. Many Republicans, however, seemed equally eager to look聽backward 鈥� to two weeks in 2020.
Black Minneapolis area resident George Floyd was killed by a police officer on May 25 of that year. Black Lives Matter protests soon rippled out to of cities and towns across the country. A small share of the protests was accompanied by violence, which caused聽 in damage and prompted a record number of National Guard deployments.
Perhaps nowhere in America felt the reverberations of the murder as acutely as the epicenter of Minneapolis.听
Why We Wrote This
Keeping the peace is one of the most vital jobs a public executive has. Republican attacks against Harris running mate Tim Walz could put questions of law, order, and the George Floyd protests at the campaign forefront.
What really happened during the George Floyd protests?聽
Mr. Walz was among Democratic officials facing acute criticism for their responses聽to the violence, himself calling the聽early local response 鈥渁n abject failure.鈥� He聽faced immediate backlash for waiting three days after Mr. Floyd鈥檚 murder to 聽activating聽the largest domestic deployment of .听
The full story of Governor Walz鈥檚 response to Mr. Floyd鈥檚 death is more nuanced. In the years that followed, Mr. Walz signed bipartisan legislation on police reforms and offered state support for other public safety measures. And details around the state鈥檚 delayed National Guard deployment are still disputed. State officials say they weren鈥檛 given the necessary information from the city, while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who reportedly asked for assistance from the governor 24 hours prior to when the Guard was activated, says the governor hesitated.听聽
What appears clear is that his initial response to the rioting will likely be a focal point of election-year debate.
Republicans were quick to resurface this criticism Tuesday, tweeting photos of buildings ablaze and blaming Mr. Walz for the rioting and looting. Minneapolis was 鈥済round zero for the BLM riots of 2020,鈥� Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted on X. 鈥淗arris egged it on and Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.鈥� Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance similarly referenced Mr. Walz鈥檚 role in violence of the summer of 2020 when asked about his Democratic opponent.听聽
Floyd protests: A winning issue for Republicans?
By choosing Mr. Walz as her running mate, Ms. Harris has opened the door for Republicans to relitigate the issue of 鈥渓aw and order,鈥� one of the most defining themes of the last presidential election 鈥� potentially tilting the campaigns鈥� focus to terrain that favors the GOP.
鈥淚n politics you try to inflate everything, and they are going to try to inflate Walz鈥� role more than he deserves,鈥� says Vin Weber, a Republican strategist and former Minnesota congressman. 鈥淏ut he didn鈥檛 do what he could have done.鈥澛�
Mr. Weber says Republicans鈥� messaging on the topic could hurt Democrats.听
鈥淚f it was a phony issue, I鈥檇 say they should pass it by quickly. But it鈥檚 not a phony issue,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a legitimate line of attack.鈥澛�
Despite Republican voters listing violent crime as a聽issue than abortion, guns, or immigration in 2020, and despite former President Donald Trump鈥檚 efforts to win back suburban voters by promising to protect their communities, Mr. Trump and the Republicans聽lost the presidency and Senate seats. But downballot Republican candidates聽 expectations, specifically in the U.S. House .听
Democrats and defunding the police
For Democrats, more concerning than Republicans鈥� strength on the safety issue is the potential for a law-and-order conversation to reignite a division within their own party. Some progressive Democrats responded to the 2020 events in Minneapolis with efforts to 鈥渄efund the police鈥� 鈥� which proved to be a losing message in . Look no further than Minneapolis, where voters rejected a 2021 ballot measure to replace the city鈥檚 police department with a 鈥溾�� unit.听
The Democratic Party quickly moderated itself, with President Joe Biden making a point of saying the answer to rising crime was to 鈥溾�� in his 2022 State of the Union address.听
"I do know how the mayor鈥檚 office works, and I know that Tim Walz is not supposed to be the first responder in the city,鈥� says former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak. 鈥淎nd Tim Walz played a very active role when it was right for the governor to do [that] and then was incredibly important in helping the rebuilding process, you know, to get all these stores and businesses back up and running鈥� with state aid.
鈥淭he governor responded effectively and quickly with [the] National Guard and worked with local authorities to do it,鈥� says Keith Ellison, Minnesota鈥檚 Democratic attorney general.
It was former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin 鈥� not the governor 鈥� who knelt on Mr. Floyd鈥檚 neck for almost 10 minutes and who caused the 鈥渃ivil disturbances鈥� that followed in Minneapolis, says Mr. Ellison. As the first Black official elected statewide in Minnesota, Mr. Ellison credits Mr. Walz for handing him the case to prosecute Mr. Chauvin and the other officers.听
鈥淗is decision helped quell civil unrest,鈥� Mr. Ellison says.
Walz signed bipartisan public safety laws聽聽
The divided Minnesota legislature passed two police accountability bills in less than two years following Mr. Floyd鈥檚 death, both of which were signed into law by Mr. Walz.
The package from bans neck restraints and chokeholds and provides more police training.
The following June, following Mr. Chauvin鈥檚 conviction, the legislature passed a bill to limit no-knock warrants. Mr. Walz also signed for community violence prevention grants and to allow families to see police body cam footage after a loved one is killed. In late 2023, Mr. Walz approved a disbursement to public safety departments across Minnesota.
Reviews have criticized Walz鈥檚 response
But just as Democrats can point to these bipartisan achievements if policing and crime rises again to the political forefront, Republicans will likely reference a 2020 report from Minnesota Senate Republicans in which the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, now the National Guard director, said that some of the rioting and destruction could have been avoided if Mr. Walz, commander in chief of the Minnesota National Guard, had acted sooner. According to testimony from Senate hearings, the Minnesota National Guard was 鈥渨aiting for orders鈥� outside Minneapolis as the city鈥檚 3rd Precinct police building was evacuated and set on fire by vandals.听
Republicans may also reference an external review of the state鈥檚 response published in 2022, which found 鈥渢imeliness of Minnesota National Guard deployment鈥� as an area to be improved.
鈥淗e sat on his hands for three days while Minneapolis burned,鈥� says Jim Schultz, a Republican who ran against incumbent Mr. Ellison for Minnesota attorney general in 2022 promising to fight post-2020 crime.听
鈥淒owntown Minneapolis is still a ghost town after what happened,鈥� says Mr. Schultz, noting that four years later, the rebuilding of Lake Street is still . 鈥淭he scars of 2020 continue to be felt.鈥�
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