While many legacy media outlets are gushing talking points about Kamala Harris’s running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz being “cuddly” and “joyful” or a “happy warrior” or “nice guy,” his take on free speech is worrying.

In an interview with MSNBC in December 2022, Governor Walz was discussing how to fix voting issues when he brought up what he called a “massive misinformation campaign” that Democrats had been fighting against for two years.

Part of what Walz referred to as “misinformation” was questions that had arisen over Covid lockdowns and concerns about election integrity following the 2020 election.

At one point, Walz emphatically declares that there is no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech when it comes to democracy.

Under Walz’s administration, Minnesota had some of the most draconian lockdown policies during the Covid pandemic, including setting up an official hotline by which people could snitch on their neighbors for being outside, walking their dogs or hosting small gatherings at their homes.

More recently, Walz also has proposed increasing the budget of Minnesota’s Human Rights Department to create a speech registry to monitor so-called hate speech.

Whatever good qualities Walz may bring to the Democratic ticket, assuming that Kamala Harris does become the party’s official nominee, his lust to control the words and ideas that others are allowed to say and think is a massive red flag.