STILLWATER, Minn. — Vice President Kamala Harris' choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate makes health care a top issue in the final stretch of the run-up to the November presidential election.
Walz, a 60-year-old former high school teacher and football coach, has a history of supporting left-wing health care initiatives during his two terms as governor and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He also leads a state at the center of the health care industry: Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, and one of its most prestigious hospital systems, the Mayo Clinic.
Republicans have seized on his reputation to portray the Harris-Waltz party as extreme on health care, while Democrats say Walz’s efforts to lower drug costs and preserve abortion access are mainstream positions that appeal to swing voters. Either way, his choice puts health care front and center as an election issue, underscoring the priority of the nation’s fight for abortion access and voters’ deep concerns about skyrocketing health care costs.
Many of Walz's positions overlap with Harris's.
He fought for abortion access, signed a law enshrining abortion rights in the state, and visited a Planned Parenthood clinic with the vice president in March.
He supported a congressional bill that would give the federal government the power to negotiate drug prices in Medicare, the health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities. On Aug. 15, the Biden administration released a new, Prices for 10 drugs have been reduced in a program that stems from negotiations between the government and drugmakers. The cost cuts will begin in 2026.
As governor, Walz signed legislation in 2020 cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 a month for residents who qualify for the drugs and need them urgently. Two years later, President Joe Biden did the same for all Medicare patients.
Early in the covid-19 pandemic, Walz mandated masks in most indoor public spaces. In 2020, he extended the stay-at-home order, leading former President Donald Trump to issue a “LET'S LIBERATE MINNESOTA!» on X, the social platform then called Twitter.
“He has common sense when it comes to issues and policy,” said Andy Slavitt, a former UnitedHealth executive and former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “He’s not an ideologue. He’s an independent thinker who cares about people who don’t have resources,” said Slavitt, who served as a senior adviser to the Biden administration’s COVID response team.
Walz has also championed fertility treatments, sharing his personal story of how he and his wife, Gwen, relied on them to conceive. With IVF under increasing threat from some abortion opponents despite its widespread popularity, his personal knowledge of fertility issues adds political clout.
“Waltz spoke clearly and passionately about his IVF experience, and it resonated with people on both sides of the fence,” said Christopher Shearon, founder and president of Action for Health, a national nonprofit advocacy organization.
Republicans in Minnesota say Walz’s stances on health care will work against the Democratic Party. They criticize his 2021 COVID vaccination or routine testing of state workers, his support for legislation codifying abortion rights, his support for legalizing recreational marijuana and a bill he signed to expand public health coverage to some immigrants without legal residency.
“Under Governor Walz, we have seen one of the most radical, far-left agendas in the country. As Americans seek unity, Walz has a track record of implementing extreme policies that only further divide us,” Minnesota Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson said in a statement. “He has set our state on a path toward government-run health care and championed restrictive health orders that limit Minnesotans’ access to life-saving care.”
Minnesota's Tracey Mitchell said she was leaning toward supporting former President Donald Trump in November before Walz was elected because she believed he would do more to reduce health care costs.
This statement cemented her decision: she was voting for Trump.
“I have three kids, and health care is getting expensive,” said Mitchell, 38, of Ham Lake, during a visit to Stillwater, Minn., with her family. She is the director of program operations at a mental health clinic.
“The way he's dealt with COVID, and from a health perspective, I think he's too radical,” she said.
Still, Democrats are hopeful that a greater focus on health care will give them an edge in the election by tapping into voters' concerns about pocketbooks in swing states.
Forty-eight percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning adults said affordability of health care is a very big problem in the country, according to a May poll by The National Interest. Pew Research CenterSixty-five percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning adults agreed.
The problem outweighs illegal immigration, the federal budget deficit, gun violence and drug addiction.
Three in four adults said they are very or somewhat worried about whether they will be able to afford unexpected medical bills, based on a survey conducted in January and February by KFF, a nonprofit health information organization that includes KFF Health News.
“Republicans have always suffered because they talk about health care in economic terms,” said William Pearce, a senior director at APCO Worldwide, a global consulting and advocacy firm, and a former Republican congressional aide. “Democrats talk about it as a personal issue. Picking Walz gives them more room to push harder.”
Walz's fellow Republican, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has less experience on health care issues. But he has sought to demonstrate concern about rising costs and barriers to health care.
During a recent visit to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Vance said the government must do more to preserve access to health care in rural America.
IN July 2017, Editorial In an op-ed published in The New York Times long before he ran for the Senate as a Republican, Vance expressed support for some provisions of the Affordable Care Act and criticized the GOP's push to repeal the law because he said the proposal “deprives the poor of support.”
Since joining Trump's ticket, Vance reconciled his views with Trump over the ACA, a law that Trump tried but failed to repeal as president.
“There is a difference between those who defend the ACA and those who would like to repeal it; Walz’s election makes that contrast even more stark,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, a nonpartisan organization focused on health care access and affordability.
Vance has supported allowing the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices are a rare point of agreement with Democrats on health policy.
Like Trump, he opposes gender-affirming care for transgender minors. But he has taken a tougher stance than the former president on abortion, a vulnerability Democrats have sought to exploit. Public support for abortion rights has grown since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade In 2022, many Republican-led states have enacted strict bans.
Both the Democratic and Republican campaigns are under renewed scrutiny for their positions on health care. California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis’ super PAC, Californians for Choice, released an ad this month saying Vance supports a nationwide abortion ban that “takes away our freedom.”
Like Trump, Vance recently said that states should decide on specific abortion policies, but he previously supported A nationwide ban on abortion.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has dubbed Walz “Tampon Tim” because of the state law he signed a requirement that menstrual hygiene products be available to “all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4-12, consistent with a plan developed by the school district.”
A recent Trump campaign ad called Walz “too weird. Too radical.”
But Walz's inclusion on the ticket has galvanized Democratic voters concerned about health care, such as Angel Palm, a 32-year-old disability life coach who lives in Fridley, Minn.
“My son is autistic and has medical expenses. This is so important,” she told KFF Health News. “I'm so happy.”