The 2017 statement has dogged Walz throughout his career as Minnesota governor.
Topline
The Trump campaign is citing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s 2017 description of his state’s rural areas as « mostly rocks and cows » to attack the new Democratic vice presidential candidate, reviving an attack local Republicans have used against Walz for years—though Walz has argued he was taken out of context.Key Facts
Walz, describing conservative areas of his state during a roundtable while campaigning for governor in 2017, said Democrats “go into depression” when they see electoral maps shaded in red, but “it’s mostly rocks and cows that are in that red area.”
At the time, the comments prompted a wave of backlash from Walz’s GOP critics who have sought to link him to the stereotype that the Democratic Party is out-of-touch with the needs of Americans outside major cities.
The comment resurfaced Tuesday as Walz ascended to the 2024 Democratic ticket: The Republican party tweeted a video of Walz making the statement after Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate.
Walz has long noted the criticism lacks context, however: After the “rocks and cows” quip, Walz lamented that voters in rural areas often felt forgotten by politicians focused on more densely populated areas, explaining, “moving towards an urban population left a lot of people in areas where they were wondering where was the person speaking for them?”
Walz campaign manager Nick Coe responded to criticism of the statement in 2017 by noting to the Rochester, Minnesota-based Post-Bulletin that Walz “was elected and re-elected five times in a rural district” and highlighted the broader context of Walz’s statement, explaining that Walz was expressing the need for Democrats to “do a better job of speaking to rural voters if they want to have the same success as he has in responding to their concerns.
