Many political pundits had opined that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would be Kamala Harris’s best running mate. He’s a moderate who hails from a swing state that could push the Democrats into the White House in November. But being pro-Israel and pro-school choice disqualified him.

Instead, Harris picked far-leftist Tim Walz as her running mate. The Minnesota governor’s “accomplishments” align with the Bernie Sanders/Gavin Newsom playbook. For example, even though Minnesota already has the fifth-highest top income tax rate among the states, 9.85% on earnings above $193,000 for a single filer, Mr. Walz added a 1% surtax on net investment income above $1 million while reducing deductions, and the governor wanted more.

He has made an estimated 81,000 illegal immigrants in the state eligible for driver’s licenses, along with health insurance through the MinnesotaCare program.

As a fervent believer in “climate action,” Walz has mandated that public utilities generate 80% carbon-free electricity by 2030, ramping up to 100% by 2040. He subsidizes electric vehicles by “requiring EV charging infrastructure within or adjacent to new commercial and multi-family buildings.”

Minnesota now has one of the nation’s most permissive abortion statutes, with essentially no limits and no age consideration for minors.

During the COVID craze, Walz was a hysteric of the highest order. He forced masks onto children as young as five, placed strict limits on outdoor gatherings, and encouraged Minnesotans to report their neighbors for violations of social distancing rules.

Additionally, he spent much of the state’s allotment of federal COVID funds on items that had little or nothing to do with the pandemic.

For example, Walz oversaw the use of more than $4.3 million to cover parking costs at state facilities for state employees and visitors. The state used $1 million to fund a study on the feasibility of paid family leave, and another $1 million to fund a statewide gun safety ad campaign. Another $7.8 million was distributed to homeless shelters in Minneapolis to cover ongoing costs.

Conflating Bernie Sanders and Mr. Rogers, he revealed his core beliefs when he asserted, “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.”

Walz is particularly deplorable on education spending. Showing his “neighborliness,” he signed a universal school free breakfast and lunch bill in 2023 that feeds all students on the taxpayers’ dime. (Socialists never acknowledge that, as the late Milton Friedman explained, there is no such thing as a free lunch—or breakfast, for that matter.)

He signed a bill into law that provided $2.2 billion in new funding for K-12 education, a significant hike in the state’s education expenditures—about $400 per student per year more than the previous outlay. Additionally, he passed record spending in early child care and learning last year. As part of a $1.3 billion package of childcare spending for families and providers, Walz used $316 million to boost wages for childcare providers.

Walz approved an additional $650 million for higher education to implement new programs for financial aid and workforce initiatives in the 2024-25 school year. He also passed the North Star Promise program, which provides free college for students—including illegal immigrants—who have a family income under $80,000.

In addition to being a spendaholic, Walz is an active proponent of all the trendy woke education and gender issues. As Heritage Foundation scholars Jay Greene and Jason Bedrick note, Walz championed the creation of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Center at the Minnesota Department of Education “to build toward an education system committed to anti-racism.”

As governor, Walz signed an executive order that ensured minors could undergo gender-affirming care treatments ranging from surgery to speech therapy that “support a transgender or nonbinary person in their gender transition.” He doubled down by directing state agencies “to refuse approval of health plans that do not cover gender-affirming care and to investigate any complaints about denial of gender-affirming care.”

On a similar note, Walz signed into law what the LBGTQ rights group GLAAD calls a “trans refuge bill,” explaining that it “protects transgender people and their families from legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota to receive transgender health care.” He also ensured that pro-trans/anti-female policies were incorporated into schools. In particular, the governor fought to allow biological males to compete in female school sports.

Walz earned the moniker “Tampon Tim” by signing into law a bill that places “free” tampons and menstrual pads in all school restrooms, including those for boys. As the bill’s sponsor explained: “Not all students who menstruate are female. We need to make sure all students have access to these products.”

In backing the bill, Walz endorsed the idea that boys could go into girls’ bathrooms and vice versa.

This past May, Walz signed a law barring parental groups from removing books or materials from Minnesota school libraries based on content, calling the parental efforts “regressive.” Walz apparently thinks that educators’ whims-du-jour, trumps the role of mothers and fathers.

All the above has many parents aghast.

Parents Defending Education senior adviser and Virginia mother Michele Exner said Walz’s education record has created setbacks for Minnesota families and students. “Since he has been in office, national testing scores have steadily declined, and the state’s education system ranking has taken a nosedive since 2018. His radical progressive policies have prioritized menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms over tackling the education losses his own policies created.”

Not surprisingly, Walz, a former high school teacher, and American Federation of Teachers member is worshipped by the teachers’ unions. National Education Association president Becky Pringle heartily endorsed him, calling him an “exceptional choice.”

But AFT president Randi Weingarten couldn’t contain herself. “We’re so excited…we have known him for years as a social studies teacher, as a vet, as a union member, as a congressman, as a governor, he cares about working people. We’ve seen it. He knows how to get things done. It is such a great day for America that we’re going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on the ticket for the future, for freedom, for opportunity, for America, for American families.”

Then, in a press release, the ebullient Weingarten gushed, “Gov. Walz has been an unabashed champion for families, for public education, for educators and other workers throughout his life in public service. He knows the promise of public education. He shares our commitment to solving problems and forging a future in which all Americans can get ahead, not just get by.”

Weingarten added, “Walz and Harris are about opportunity and freedom—the freedom to join a union, the freedom to thrive, to make our own healthcare decisions, to be free from gun violence. They will stand up for the middle class against a weak, dark, dystopian alternative that wants to send us back to the past.”

In the first 24 hours after Vice President Harris announced Walz as her running mate, her team raised some $36 million, her deputy campaign manager said, adding that teachers were the top profession among the donors.

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a warning about Walz after Weingarten’s exuberant praise, simply and precisely asserting on X, “Anyone who makes Randi this excited is a 5-alarm fire for parents and students.”

Republicans need to get busy. Very busy. The Harris-Walz ticket would be an unmitigated disaster for our country.

***

Larry Sand, a retired 28-year classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.