I’m personally pleased by the choice of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’s running mate. In a July 27 post, I wrote about Democrats’ need to stop triangulating and calibrating, and to stand up aggressively for core values when they’re under threat as never before in our lifetimes. Walz will do that.
But how is he on human rights and democracy in Latin America?
The record is thin: this is not Tim Walz’s domain. As governor of Minnesota, his most pressing foreign policy concern has probably been relations with Ontario and Manitoba. Before that, during 12 years in the House of Representatives, Walz did not serve on committees with foreign policy responsibilities.
However, we can get a sense from the legislation he voted for and co-sponsored. And here, the outlook is very good for his view of human rights and democracy in the Americas.
Due to labor rights concerns, Walz was a “no” vote on free-trade deals with Colombia (2011) and Peru (2007).
On human rights and democracy, Walz was one of 51 co-sponsors of a 2009 resolution condemning the military coup in Honduras, and one of 103 co-sponsors of the Latin America Military Training Review Act, a bill spearheaded by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) in 2009.
As a representative of a farm district, Walz supported opening economic relations with Cuba, a market for agricultural products. The Alliance for Cuba Engagement and Respect notes that he voted in the Agriculture Committee for a 2010 bill that would have ended travel restrictions and allowed direct farm sales to the island. He was one of 32 co-sponsors, in 2015, of the “Free Trade With Cuba Act”—a misnomer, as it eased the embargo on Cuba but was far from a free trade deal.
On immigration, both in the House and as a governor Walz has adopted standard liberal positions without making it a signature issue. In 2018, at the lowest point of the Trump administration’s family separations policy, he was one of 195 House members who co-sponsored the “Keep Families Together Act.”
In 2015 he supported legislation backing stricter screening of refugees, but the New York Times reported that he has since changed this position. In 2008, following a visit to El Paso, he called “on Congress to increase funding for more Border Patrol agents, security cameras, technology and K-9 training,” MPR News reported; these are also common positions among Democratic legislators.
All in all, Walz has a solid record on Latin American human rights and democracy issues, though not one of leadership or deep engagement.
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