Most Americans were introduced to Tim Walz when the Minnesota governor was tapped by then-Vice President Kamala Harris to be her running mate in 2024.
More than five months after President Donald Trump defeated Harris in the November general election, Walz is trying to remain nationally relevant, likely with an eye on the Democratic Party's 2028 presidential nomination.
He has done interviews and held town halls nationally.
During an interview with New York Magazine this week, Walz said, "90% of the time, I can be really good, but about 10% of the time, I can be a train wreck."
According to Jim Schultz, president of the Minnesota Private Business Council, Walz's percentages should be reversed.
"Walz is indeed often a train wreck, and as Walz tramps around the country seeking to place himself as the foil to congressional Republicans and Donald Trump, to really understand what a disaster he is, we only need to look at the ongoing mess he has left behind in Minnesota," Schultz wrote in a column for The Federalist.
Schultz said Walz and Democrat allies turned a record-setting $19 billion state surplus in 2022 into a $6 billion budget deficit by embarking on "the most reckless spending spree in Minnesota history, funneling billions into pet projects and giveaways for every left-wing constituency imaginable."
"Walz tried to falsely pin the financial crisis on the new Trump administration despite state officials confirming that federal policy did not affect their budget projections," Schultz wrote.
Schultz, the 2022 GOP nominee for Minnesota attorney general, also wrote that federal officials estimate fraud across Minnesota's public assistance programs under Walz exceeds $600 million; the state's educational system dropped 8.2 percentage points, and math proficiency fell by 14.2 percentage points from 2014 to 2023 despite significant increases in education spending; and progressive prosecutors let criminals walk free.
"Tim Walz has been a train wreck, and not just 10% of the time," Schultz wrote at the end of his column. "And although Americans were given a glimpse of his record in Minnesota in 2024, that record grows more troubling as the consequences of his policies have played out. All of America should know that Minnesota was once the 'State that Worked.' Under Tim Walz, that's as gone, just like its absentee governor."