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If you are a senator or House member from Middle America, there is a very good chance that you are on a flight Tuesday morning through the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. In fact, it is not uncommon that as many as nine or more might all be on that same flight. It was during one of those flights that I developed a friendship with then-Rep. Tim Walz.
We would frequently start up conversations about our families before the conversation would inevitably drift into a deep dive on the latest developments in the Farm Bill, a disaster on the North Dakota-Minnesota border or whatever the hot button issue of the moment was. In these conversations, I came to see his passion for service and his knowledge and belief in how government can do good work for people. We would frequently be interrupted by a constituent who wanted to share with him an update on their family or a community project his office had helped on. I saw his genuine interest in their lives and stories. It was real and it was true. And in the last four days, the rest of America is starting to see the very same Tim Walz that I know.
Walz, who grew up on his family's farm in Nebraska, will give rural America "a seat at the table" if elected vice president. He recognizes where we are headed in agriculture moving into the future, and he knows we cannot just rest on our laurels and assume that we can keep doing the same things that we've always done. Walz will provide the kind of dynamic leadership that if we work together we can deliver progress to make a real difference.
One needs to look no further than his record of accomplishment as governor of Minnesota to know that he prioritizes families and workers. Walz signed the largest tax cut in state history, implemented paid family and medical leave, lowered insulin costs, eliminated junk fees, passed universal school meals, protected reproductive freedom, instituted tuition-free community college for low-income Minnesotans and more. Each of these initiatives shows a discipline to get things done that matter to the kitchen table economic priorities of everyday life. That is what rural leaders do.
Real rural leaders also know how to talk the talk because they've actually walked the walk. Tim Walz knows what rural is—our way of life, our values, our love of community. He lives here. He looks like us, and sounds like us. He won't look down on voters like us in rural America. Walz stands in sharp contrast to the other vice-presidential candidate who has a vision of rural America which is dark and unflattering to those of us who actually live and work here. His solution to the problem seems to be to complain. Meanwhile when Walz sees a problem, he gets to work to fix it.
As Tim has said multiple times, "In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule. Mind your own damn business." His understanding of rural America and our attitudes shines bright in this statement. He gets it. He gets it because he lives it.
The country is learning more about Tim Walz every day. His zest for service to others, his happiness and joy in getting to be around people, listen to their needs as they share ideas, then turn those ideas into policy that helps them. Tim Walz is the right choice for rural America and for all of America.
U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp served as the first female senator elected from North Dakota from 2013 – 2019.She is the founder and chair of the One Country Project, an organization focused on addressing the needs and concerns of rural America, and is the Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
