Democrats hope Tim Walz brings boost in battleground congressional races

Nine days before Vice President Kamala Harris selected him to be her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz received a text message from a fellow Minnesota Democrat.   

“I’ve never lost with you on top of the ballot,” Rep. Angie Craig wrote. In describing the text to CBS News, she added “LOL,” saying she’d teased him at the time about his status as a top contender for the job. 

Craig, who represents the far southern suburbs of Minneapolis in one of the most competitive and moderate House districts in America, took an early stand against the leader of her own party. Soon after President Biden’s dismal debate performance, she called on him to drop out of the race.

After his departure, Craig championed Walz for VP. 

“He can talk to anybody, anywhere, about anything,” she told CBS News. Craig said Walz is a political force in “so many swing states and battleground districts.”

The governor’s first month as his party’s vice presidential nominee is raising optimism among Democrats about their prospects in two battleground House races where Walz has roots. In Minnesota’s 2nd District, Craig faces a stiff challenge as she pursues her fourth term.   

And in Walz’s birthplace of Nebraska, where he campaigned in mid-August, Democrats are hoping his connections will help them oust veteran incumbent Republican Don Bacon. Both races are expensive, close and could have an outsized impact on the balance of power in the House, where Republicans are clinging to a very narrow majority heading into the November elections.

The Republicans trying to win those seats have aggressively criticized Walz, questioning the quality of his record as governor and doing their best to tie Democratic House candidates to GOP anti-Walz messages.

Craig says Walz has won her swing district handily when he’s been on the ballot as governor. 

“He campaigns aggressively. He shows up anywhere,” she said. “I once went turkey hunting with him at the beginning of the season; then we were at a gay rights gala that same weekend. His range is truly extraordinary.”

Craig’s challenger, Republican Joe Teirab, is trying to appeal to the large number of voters in the 2nd District who have a history of splitting their tickets.   

A former federal prosecutor, Teirab is going after Walz over his response to the 2020 unrest in Minneapolis in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. 

“Tim Walz has failure on his record,” Teirab told CBS News. “And I think people are going to be voting on that.” He argues that Walz has not shown enough support for law enforcement, and he believes that policing and public safety will be key issues in battleground races, including in Minnesota.

“People here know that we need to support law enforcement to uphold public safety,” Teirab said, adding that “after the 2020 riots, it was a lot harder for law enforcement departments to recruit and retain talent.” 

Teirab brings up his own record as a prosecutor when he campaigns.  

“I’ve had to throw a lot of drug traffickers behind bars,” he told CBS News. “I’d love to be part of the effort to stem that tide in Congress.”  

Craig, however, has the backing of some in law enforcement and announced a series of endorsements by groups including the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. 

In Omaha, Nebraska, and its own 2nd Congressional District, another battleground race has included talk of a visit by Walz. The VP nominee, who grew up in small-town Nebraska, campaigned in the 2nd District on Aug. 17, underscoring the significance of Nebraska’s distinctive system of awarding presidential electors by congressional district.

Longtime Republican incumbent Don Bacon, who has a history of defeating both conservative Republican primary opponents and Democratic general election challengers, has accused Walz of shifting to the political left in the years since he won the governorship in Minnesota. 

“I think his support in this district will dissipate,” Bacon told CBS News. “But we’ve got to be good at messaging it.”

Bacon said he would have been more concerned about his electoral prospects if Harris had instead selected Gov. Josh Shapiro, a first-term Pennsylvania Democrat, as her running mate.  

“I think Shapiro was a much more threatening vice president than Walz,” Bacon said. “In the end, Walz’s roots or connections here may not be relevant enough. I think he was helpful up front, but I don’t think it’s going to be helpful in the long run.”

Bacon’s Democratic challenger, state legislator Tony Vargas, is hoping Walz can boost Democrats’ appeal to blue-collar voters in Nebraska. Vargas, likeWalz, is a  former schoolteacher.   He told CBS News, “Seeing Gov. Walz on the ticket is something that we’ve been talking about at my events. We need working-class people in Congress. Gov. Walz is incredibly supportive of organized labor.”

“We need examples of what working class individuals look like in Congress and at the top ticket of the presidency in the executive branch,” said Vargas.  

During Walz’s campaign stop in Nebraska last month, Vargas said he talked with him about the chances of flipping the House from Republican to Democratic control.

Both parties are claiming to have the momentum in the races for the Minnesota and Nebraska House seats. The race for the two seats has attracted millions in campaign spending.

Craig said the switch at the top of the ticket has boosted Democratic candidates across several battleground states, but she still says her race will be a “tough fight” and a “hard push.”

In several battleground districts, including the 2nd District of Nebraska, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has touted fundraising success by challengers seeking to defeat incumbents.     

Walz’s addition to the presidential ticket underscores the impact of the historic withdrawal of President Biden from the presidential race. The reconfigured ticket has provided Democrats with a blast of enthusiasm, more favorable polling, volunteers and donations.   

Craig and Vargas told CBS News they’ve noticed a significant uptick in enthusiasm among prospective voters during door-knocking and campaign events.

Republicans say they expect the initial enthusiasm among Democrats to wane.  

“President Trump and JD Vance have to be focused on the economy, border, crime, and they need to be pretty clear about what Harris and Walz have stood for in the past,” Bacon said. “And if they do that, I think we’ll be fine.”

Hunter Woodall

contributed to this report.

Scott MacFarlane

Scott MacFarlane is a congressional correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.