Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said this week he let Kamala Harris down during their 2024 presidential campaign.
Walz made the remarks at the MinnPost Festival, according to The Daily Caller.
The governor said he believes he was overly kind to now-Vice President J.D. Vance during their debate on Oct. 1, 2024.
The debate was described as “largely civil” and “midwestern nice.”
Walz stumbled repeatedly and made a series of gaffes, with Vance widely seen as the winner.
The Minnesota Democrat himself later acknowledged Harris’s criticism in her new book was justified.
“She has every right to be critical,” Walz said of Kamala Harris.
Walz explained that his behavior came from what he called “the teacher in me.”
????NEW: Tim Walz on his debate against JD Vance:
"I think [Kamala Harris] has every right to be critical. I do think I let her down on a couple things."
"I warned them my Minnesota nice thing is if somebody's being nice to me, I'll be nice to them."
"We did not prepare for him… pic.twitter.com/kZxXBkQVJ4
— Jason Cohen ???????? (@JasonJournoDC) October 1, 2025
“As far as the book and things like that go, I think she has every right to be critical. I do think I let her down on a couple things,” he said.
“And I warned them my Minnesota nice thing is if somebody’s being nice to me, I’ll be nice to them,” Walz added.
He admitted the Harris campaign did not expect Vance to present himself so cordially.
“It did matter, though, and I think in the moment we were in … we did not prepare for him to be more cordial,” Walz said.
“The expectation was that he would do the false attacks … and they didn’t. So, I’ll give them this — they were well prepared.”
He explained his attempt to be agreeable when Vance was speaking was seen as a weakness.
“That was viewed as me trying to find common ground,” he said.
“When someone else is speaking next to you, you instinctively nod and listen,” he said. “That was viewed as … that I was agreeing on some of the things that were a personal attack on her.”
Walz appeared like a deer in headlights throughout the debate with Vance.
In one bizarre moment, he declared, “I’ve become friends with school shooters.”
Tim Walz: "I've become friends with school shooters." pic.twitter.com/njJQc1kJxR
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) August 27, 2025
Harris has been opening up about her failed 2024 race in her new book.
She has slammed her fellow Democrats and admitted she passed over Pete Buttigieg as her running mate because of his homosexuality.
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