FALCON HEIGHTS, Minnesota — Just a few blocks from a stand selling deep-fried hot dogs and just steps away from a booth dedicated to the Minnesota Vikings is one of the most popular displays. State Fair in the Land of 10,000 LakesOne of the largest in America.
Long lines formed Thursday at the “Never Walz” booth, sponsored by grassroots political party Action 4 Liberty, as attendees waited for a chance to spin a wheel marked by several controversial initiatives by the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
After the tour, fairgoers left with either a “Never Walz” handheld fan or a T-shirt that depicted former President Donald Trump holding a copy of the Constitution with “Never Surrender” written on it.
“The wheel is constantly turning. It never stops,” Action 4 Liberty organizer Jesse Smith told the Post, adding that the fair draws 5,000 to 10,000 people a day, with 90% responding positively.
Redecorated for 2024 Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz as her vice-presidential running mate Earlier this month, a “Never Walz” booth showed the 60-year-old governor standing in front of a burning Minneapolis skyline and holding a tampon that read “boys bathroom” — a sign of his support Period products in the boys' bathroom and their response Riots following the killing of George Floyd by police in 2020,
Walz is the first Minnesotan to run on a major party's ticket since Walter Mondale's landslide re-election victory over Ronald Reagan in 1984 — and Republicans as well as Democrats are excited about it for different reasons.
Republican Party of Minnesota vice-chairman Donna Bergstrom told The Post at the party’s booth, “Minnesota is really excited and ready to see change because we’ve been under Walz’s dictatorship,” she said, referring to the governor’s COVID restrictions — which included A hotline was set up Allow squabbling neighbors to gossip about each other.
“We're really glad he's on the national stage on one side, so all of America can see how unprepared he is to be our vice president.”
May Lor Jeong, a longtime Republican congressional candidate seeking to represent a district in D.C. that includes St. Paul, said she was “hopeful” that “a significant number of Republican candidates” would come out, along with independents and Democrats, to challenge the state’s leadership.
However, Minnesota has only gone Republican in three presidential elections since the end of World War II, and at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor booth, some fairgoers wearing Harris-Walz shirts competed in sticking blue pins on a map of the state to show their support for the ticket.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, but I’m not sure it’s just him,” said DFL booth worker Julius Jones, who described Walz as a “common man” and compared him to “your uncle down the street.”
“Everybody is excited for Kamala because this is going to be a historic election,” he said.
Vote for Walz. Diana Glebova/NY Post
“I think his base is right here,” fellow booth worker Pam Bandy said of the governor.
“I want him to win seats outside of Minnesota,” she said, referring to key battleground states like Wisconsin and Michigan, which both campaigns are placing a heavy emphasis on.
Pam Parker, a senior DFL caucus member, told the Post that Harris and Walz hold the most importance as the younger faces of the Democratic ticket.
“He would have had the energy, but poor Biden didn't have it and he seemed to be getting even weaker,” Parker said. “His mind was working just fine and I don't think people gave him enough credit for that.”
Other patrons in the DFL booth agreed that the party’s ticket is repackaging rather than a departure from Biden.
On a Libertarian stance, the activists were also opposed to Walz, but had no love for Trump either.
Joseph Gamache, treasurer of the Minnesota Libertarian Party, argued that his candidate, Chase Oliver, would receive a boost from voters who had supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Dropped out and endorsed Trump Last week.
