Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice Tuesday of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate is spiking enthusiasm among climate-focused progressives — and fossil fuel supporters backing former President Donald Trump.
Walz, a 60-year-old former school teacher and football coach with military experience, has a long energy record that is under renewed scrutiny from both the right and left.
Within weeks of being sworn into a second term as governor last year, Waltz signed a bill over fierce Republican opposition to force utilities to provide 100 percent carbon-free power by 2040. He’s also aligned the Gopher State with California in its quest to crack down on vehicle emissions beyond federal standards. At the same time, he didn’t stand in the way of construction of a major oil pipeline, angering greens.
Even so, his place on the Democratic ticket is winning praise from many progressives who had criticized the prospect of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) as a vice presidential pick because of his support of oil and gas production. The reaction to Walz suggests he could help Harris on her left flank with environmentalists who have been critical of administration actions such as the approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow oil project in the Arctic.
“I’m just totally so fired up,” said Aaron Regunberg, senior climate policy counsel at Public Citizen who is affiliated with a group called Progressives for Harris, but spoke to POLITICO’s E&E News on Tuesday in his personal capacity. Walz “is the guy who gives us the best shot to win, and that is what all of this has been about for the last month.”
Regunberg was a leading figure in the Pass the Torch campaign, which pressured President Joe Biden to bow out of his reelection bid.
In a research note, ClearView Energy Partners said Walz’s pick over Shapiro “may be signaling an electoral strategy that hinges more on turning out climate-forward, Israel-skeptical young voters than converting disaffected Republicans and undecided centrists.”
Many progressives Tuesday said they expected the pick to galvanize fundraising.
“From the clean energy perspective, there’s already a ton of enthusiasm, and this just adds more fuel to that fire,” said Andrew Reagan, executive director of the group Clean Energy for America Action. On Wednesday, Reagan’s organization is launching a campaign called Vote Clean Energy.
Meanwhile, a text message blitz Tuesday from the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led activist group, called Walz “a strong advocate for climate action and working people.”
But the same Walz energy policies that are animating the left have Trump allies prepping new attacks.
“This is just a doubling down on Biden’s and Harris’ bad energy policies,” Tom Pyle, president of the pro-fossil fuel American Energy Alliance, said of Walz. “We’re actually kind of excited about it.”
“He’s just weird, especially when it comes to energy policy,” Pyle said.
Coal, carbon and clean cars
Walz took multiple steps as governor to remake Minnesota’s electricity sector, often winning support from industry, labor and climate advocates.
As head of the Midwest Governors Association, he worked with communities affected by coal plant closures and helped them rebound economically.
Along with signing the law for 100 percent carbon-free electricity, Walz focused on expanding the region’s high-voltage transmission grid to enable the transition to more wind and solar power. He was one of four Midwestern governors who worked behind the scenes to lean on the region’s grid operator, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, to push through regional transmission expansion.
He backed subsidies for electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies and approved energy benchmarks for buildings.
“We’re cutting red tape for businesses, helping more projects get off the ground and supporting the clean energy job sector to make the transition to a clean energy economy easier,” Walz said in June after signing a law to expedite permitting of energy projects.
Sherco, Xcel Energy’s Sherburne County coal plant in Becker, Minnesota, has served as a symbol of the state’s energy transition. The Minneapolis-based utility ceased operations at one of three generating units at the 1,700-megawatt Sherco last year and has plans to shutter the remaining two units in 2026 and 2030, respectively. In its place, Xcel is investing $1.1 billion in three solar farms with a combined 710 MW of capacity.
Walz also served in Congress for 12 years, winning in a rural district that elected Republicans before and after his departure. The record is evidence that Walz can pitch climate action to voters who may be skeptical of those policies, supporters say.
“He can make his way in any room,” said Michael Noble, a longtime Minnesota climate advocate who is now a consultant.
While Democrats cheer on the governor’s record, some Republicans see political vulnerabilities.
“Gov. Walz has been working very hard to replicate what’s happening in California for Minnesotans,” Pyle said. “He’s saddling ratepayers in Minnesota with higher costs and less reliable electricity through his net-zero mandates.”
The comments echo Trump, who has made lowering electricity costs part of his energy agenda. But Pyle didn’t describe how Minnesota’s grid is less reliable under Walz. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, retail electricity rates in Minneapolis households have risen about 18 percent to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s lower than the 30 percent increase nationally, BLS data show.
While Walz has broadly had support of utilities in implementing the state’s clean power law, he butted heads with industry on an initiative to cut tailpipe emissions.
In 2021, Walz signed an executive order adopting California’s 2012 clean cars rule to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from automobiles, a move that raised the ire not only of Republicans but also the petroleum industry and car dealers, who sued to block it.
Minnesota adopted the rules partly in response to then-President Trump’s decision to revoke California’s rights to establish its own tailpipe emissions standards.
Despite Walz’s recent embrace of clean cars, the EV market share in the state is less than 1 percent, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
When asked about Walz’s record, the American Petroleum Institute focused on what is unknown.
“We encourage the Harris-Walz campaign to detail their stance on the key issues that will shape America’s energy future, from [liquefied natural gas] exports and federal leasing to permitting reform and consumer choice,” API President Mike Sommers said.
Line 3 fight
While Walz is known for his clean power push, he did not always stand in the way of fossil fuels, including when his administration helped approve a contested oil pipeline.
Construction on the Line 3 replacement project finished in October 2021, and involved replacing nearly 370 miles of pipeline — 92 percent of which was in Minnesota.
Critics of the Line 3 oil project pushed Walz to take a stand against it and slammed the arrest of protesters in 2021.
Collin Rees, political director of Oil Change U.S., knocked Walz over the Line 3 project despite his other actions to cut emissions.
“His lack of action to stop the Line 3 pipeline shows a troubling deference to fossil fuel interests,” Rees said in a statement. He said Walz’s new role on the ticket with Harris “is an opportunity for Walz to put people before fossil fuel profits.”
Walz’s office and Harris’ campaign did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday,
Canada-based Enbridge has said the project was needed to replace an aging segment of the greater Line 3 system, which runs more than 1,000 miles from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin.
Opponents pushed back against the characterization of the project as a replacement effort, given how much the new route diverged from the original pipeline’s path, and fought the project in court.
Line 3 has been operating “at or near” its full capacity of 760,000 barrels per day since 2021, according to an email from Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner. She said the project was placed into service in October of that year “after receiving all necessary state and federal approvals.”
“In addition to creating thousands of family-supporting union construction jobs and millions in local construction spending and ongoing additional tax dollars, Enbridge spent well over $450 million project dollars specifically with Tribal nations, communities, and contractors in Minnesota,” Kellner added.
Winona LaDuke, a hemp farmer and a prominent opponent of the Line 3 project, said Walz is a decent man who got it wrong on Line 3.
“Gov. Walz sacrificed northern Minnesota, Indigenous people and water to a Canadian pipeline company, Enbridge,” LaDuke said. She said Walz could have worked to stop state permits for the project.
Jeff Ordower, North America director at the environmental nonprofit 350.org, noted that the battle to stop Line 3 started before Walz took office. While Walz “didn’t respond to calls to stop construction permits” as governor, Ordower said, it’s “very hard to stop construction once it starts.”
