George Floyd’s death is back in the spotlight ahead of the Walz-Vance Vice Presidential Debate
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George Floyd’s death is back in the spotlight ahead of the Walz-Vance Vice Presidential Debate

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George Floyd’s death is back in the spotlight ahead of the Walz-Vance Vice Presidential Debate

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WASHINGTON – The biggest crisis of Tim Walz’s time as Minnesota governor came in the hours and days after George Floyd’s murder divided the country over issues of race, policing and civil order.

The 46-year-old’s death in May 2020 at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin sparked thousands of protests on the streets of Minneapolis, sparking riots, looting and vandalism in the city – and across the country. Days later, Walz deployed the National Guard to his state to quell civil unrest.

But the heated debate over how the events were handled remains a major topic of conversation for Republicans. Ahead of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate in New York between GOP nominee J.D. Vance and Walz, Republicans again brought into the spotlight the two-term Minnesota governor’s handling of protests and the controversy surrounding Floyd’s murder.

Vance accused Walz at a campaign event in Philadelphia last month of allowing rioters to burn Minneapolis to the ground. Although then-President Donald Trump praised Walz’s handling of the protests during a 2020 phone call, in recent weeks the 2024 GOP presidential nominee falsely claimed that he activated the National Guard in response to civil unrest, not Governor of Minnesota.

During a September debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Trump accused Harris of raising money for “criminals who killed people and burned down Minneapolis” to get them out of prison.

Political experts and strategists say Walz, who has spent little time responding to Republican attacks, will have to raise this key issue during the debate, where tens of millions of people across the country are expected to hear from the two vice presidential nominees going head-to-head.

“Walz has a big record to defend,” said Aaron Kall, director of debate for the University of Michigan debate program and editor of the 2016 book “Debating The Donald.”

Walz’s campaign referred USA TODAY to a statement from Minnesota Democratic-Farm-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, who said: “There is only one presidential candidate responsible for inciting the riots, and that was Donald Trump on January 6.”

What Walz said about his approach to the protests

Walz, who is campaigning across the country as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, faces a huge task: defending his own record at the national level while also establishing himself as a potential ruling running mate for Harris.

At a news conference in Minnesota last month, when asked if he would have handled things differently in the wake of the Floyd protests, Walz replied that “decisions were made on a situation-by-case basis, that’s what it is, and I just believed that we were trying to do the best we could in each case.” of them.” The exchange occurred while Walz was still on the short list to be Harris’ running mate.

However, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August, he did not address the topic of his handling of the crisis.

In the immediate aftermath of the protests, Walz faced criticism for being too slow to respond to civil unrest and activate the National Guard. At a press conference on May 29, 2020, Walz said he would stand down to local police and leaders until the protests get out of control and the state takes action.

Questions about why he didn’t act faster are “valid criticism,” Walz said at the time.

He later added that “if the point is that the state should act faster. Yes, it’s up to me, whether it’s about the forces behind them. I don’t think there is a lack of leadership. I think it was due to a lack of coordination and lack of understanding of what we had to ask for.”

However, Minnesota’s governor won re-election in the highly contested 2022 governor’s race, even though the then-Republican-controlled state Senate released a report in October 2020 that found he was hesitant to use the National Guard, which “cost Minnesotans their lives, communities and livelihoods.”

During the 2022 gubernatorial debate, when asked if he would do anything different to quell unrest, Walz said: “Sitting on the sidelines and criticizing is not what being governor is about. It’s making difficult decisions at this time.”

“I’m proud of Minnesota’s response; “I’m proud of Minnesota’s first responders who were on the scene, from the firefighters to the police to the National Guard to the citizens who were on the scene,” Walz said during the debate.

Black Americans Feel Disappointed with GOP Attacks, Defend Walz

But many conservative lawmakers and commentators have sharply criticized Walz’s handling of the Floyd protests since Harris added him to the Democratic ticket in 2024. And Black Americans interviewed by USA TODAY said they felt disappointed by the Republicans’ attacks and defended Walz’s actions.

Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd who supported Harris and Walz, said the GOP criticism shows many Republicans are “just defending themselves” and not the people.

“You have to understand that Governor Walz did everything he could. He also brought in the National Guard to restore order. You know, that was goal number one,” Philonise Floyd, a 45-year-old resident of Houston, Texas, told USA TODAY in an August telephone interview.

Tomme Beevas, a 45-year-old Minneapolis resident, said Walz “walked the tightrope as best as anyone, being able to listen to people, making people feel heard… using state resources to best protect people and property without causing further damage.”

Others, however, said Walz could have handled the situation better.

“I don’t think it’s fair for the Republican Party to criticize the governor on an issue that they probably wouldn’t do what he did,” said Jaylani Hussein, 43, of Minneapolis.

“But at the same time, the governor didn’t do that or didn’t listen to the community, because if he had done that, I think he would have improved the situation a lot and it would have spared him the shame he’s facing now,” he added.

Will Walz change the script on Floyd during the debate?

Fred Slocum, a political science professor at Minnesota State University, said Walz’s failure to frequently comment on the Floyd protests during the campaign was likely his decision “not to revisit that part of the past.”

Walz “tried to find a middle ground between some of the more left-leaning progressives, including many ‘defund the police’ advocates who push for the abolition and re-creation of police departments, and centrists concerned about a repeat of 1968, when Richard Nixon won the White House on the ‘Right of Law’ campaign.” and order,” he said.

But Tuesday’s vice presidential debate gives Walz an opportunity to address the issue more broadly if he seizes the moment.

Amy Koch, former Minnesota Republican Senate Majority Leader and political strategist, argued that Walz’s reactions to his handling of the protests were not very mixed.

“The fact that he – when asked at all – his answer is: it’s too tenuous. It’s not true, it doesn’t feel real because we did everything we could and we just couldn’t – you need to explain what that means, what your best meant?” she said.

She added that the debate would be crucial for Walz to set the record straight. “How a vice presidential candidate responds to a crisis is almost a key element of what is expected of the vice president,” Koch said.

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