What Walz's record in Congress tells us about his politics

Before becoming a player in national politics, Tim Walz was a centrist-Democratic member of the House of Representatives. First elected in 2006, Walz beat a six-term Republican incumbent for the seat, and held the seat for over a decade until 2019.

During the 114th Congress, Walz was ranked by Georgetown University's Lugar Center as the seventh-most bipartisan member of the House.

A member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, Walz was also endorsed by the National Rifle Association in 2013, and received $14,000 from the gun rights group from 2008 to 2016, according to FEC records. After the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, he announced he would donate the money to charity.

Walz declined to run for reelection in 2018, instead running for governor of Minnesota, a race he won in 2019.

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When Democrats took full control of the Minnesota Capitol in 2023, Walz signed into law several progressive priorities , including free school meals for children, paid family and medical leave, health insurance regardless of immigration status, protections for abortion access, and voting rights expansions.

Moments after he was named, Republicans Tuesday quickly sought to brand Walz as "far left."

"Tim Walz's record is a joke," Sen. JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, told a crowd in Philadelphia at a campaign event. "He's been one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level," Vance continued.

Democrats, however, have labeled Walz as a pragmatic moderate. Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, who left the Democratic Party in May, praised Walz as "the real deal," and Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state touted his "proven ability to repeatedly and consistently win in rural and swing districts."

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"To characterize him as left is so unreal," former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. "He's right down the middle, he's a heartland-of-America Democrat," she added.

With recent polls showing the overwhelming majority of voters don't know Walz, Democrats and Republicans are rushing to define Harris' pick, with less than 100 days to go in the campaign.