Lessons from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s response to violence following George Floyd’s killing

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic vice presidential candidate has reignited debate over how he has handled the biggest crisis of his political career.

Minneapolis and St. Paul erupted after a white Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. The black man’s murder in 2020 sparked a nationwide reckoning over racial discrimination and police misconduct. What the governor did — or didn’t do — during and after the protests continues to draw sharp criticism from Republicans who say he should have acted sooner. And some progressives complain that Walz hasn’t been forceful enough in fixing the state’s police agencies.

Here are some takeaways from Walz’s handling of the protests and police reform efforts:

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, Memorial Day. Video footage of his dying screams, “I can’t breathe,” quickly went viral, sparking outrage. The protests were initially mostly peaceful, though there were acts of vandalism and clashes with police.

On May 27, two nights later, major looting began. The police chief asked Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to request assistance from the National Guard. Walz, a 24-year veteran of the National Guard, approved a limited activation on May 28, although he still left most of the response in the hands of local authorities.

The destruction only worsened that night. Protesters took control of the 3rd Precinct police station, which was set on fire.

On May 29, Walz criticized the city’s “complete failure” to respond. On May 30, he ordered a full mobilization of the Guard, and calm returned, but not before more than 1,500 businesses and buildings had been damaged at an estimated cost of nearly $500 million.

The Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate held hearings in July. The final report, in October 2020, blamed a failure of executive leadership at the state and local levels and the hesitance of the Democratic governor and city leaders to confront their ideological allies.

“Governor Walz, his administration, and Mayor Frey failed to appreciate the seriousness of the riots and the danger to Minnesotans if they did not confront and stop the riots,” the Senate Republican Party report said. “Both Governor Walz and Mayor Frey failed to act in a timely manner to confront the riots with the necessary force because of a misguided philosophical belief that doing so would exacerbate the riots.”

Unbiased reviews have also found problems with the responses.

A report by the nonprofit Wilder Research, commissioned by the state, cited a lack of clear leadership early on. The report said the state did not establish a multi-agency command center until too late, four days after Floyd’s death. It also said the National Guard was mobilized too late.

A separate report commissioned by the city found that Minneapolis officials were unaware of the procedure for requesting help from the National Guard, delaying approval and dispatch of troops.

Meanwhile, Walz said he and other officials have risen to the challenge.

“Sitting on the sidelines and criticizing is not what being governor is about. It’s making the tough decisions in the moment,” Walz said during the 2022 gubernatorial debate. He said the way local, state and federal governments worked together should serve as a model. “I’m proud of Minnesota’s response.”

In recent appearances in Minnesota, Donald Trump falsely claimed that he was personally responsible for deploying the Guard as president. In fact, it was Walz who gave the orders.

“Every voter in Minnesota needs to know that when four years ago, when violent mobs of anarchists, looters, Marxists came to burn down Minneapolis — remember me? — I couldn’t get your governor to act,” Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, said in July. “He should have called in the National Guard or the Army. And he didn’t.”

That contrasts sharply with the praise Trump heaped on Walz in 2020, as the dust of the crisis settled. Two days after Walz ordered a full mobilization, the then-president told governors and administration officials that the Minnesota chief executive had done an outstanding job.

“What they did in Minneapolis was incredible. They came in and dominated, and it happened immediately,” Trump said, according to an audio recording of the conference call. The audio recording shows Trump did not criticize the governor at the time. “Tim, you called big numbers, and the big numbers came out so fast, it was like bowling,” Trump said.

Two impartial outside analyses, released in March 2022, found shortcomings in the city and state responses.

In the months following the riots, Walz called for radical changes and signed police accountability packages into law in 2020, 2021 and 2023.

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said Walz has been largely unfavorable to policies that would lead to more significant improvements. She pointed to stalled efforts to end a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity, which shields police officers from liability for misconduct, and another proposal to extend the statute of limitations for wrongful death cases involving police.

Political allies defended his efforts for change.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the convictions of four officers charged in Floyd’s death, said Walz found himself in an “impossible situation” in the summer of 2020. Nevertheless, Ellison said, the governor balanced the concerns of a grieving city with the risks to public safety.

“A loved one is killed by police and you can’t bring them back because death is final,” Ellison said. “The best thing you can do is hold (the police) accountable.”

Ben Crump, an influential civil rights lawyer who represented Floyd’s family, praised Walz as a “concerned and compassionate leader” for the grieving community.

“All leaders who are brave enough to actually lead face criticism and scrutiny, some who think they went too far and others who think they didn’t go far enough,” Crump said. “That usually means they’ve found the middle ground.”