Tuesday night's televised gubernatorial debate at KTTC in Rochester between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican challenger Dr. Scott Jensen came just three weeks before Election Day as both candidates looked to solidify their positions on a number of issues facing the state.
The economy, abortion, the state's response to riots following the murder of George Floyd, and the ongoing Feeding Our Future fraud scheme were among the topics posed to Walz and Jensen by a panel of four journalists.
Dr. Jensen, who pledged to ban abortion during his campaign, has tried to distance himself from that claim and told the panel Tuesday night that he wouldn't be able to ban abortion, if elected governor.
"As governor, I won't ban abortion," Jensen said. "I can't."
Jensen told WCCO Radio's Chad Hartman in May that he would pass an abortion ban bill if one arrived on his desk at the state Capitol. In the same interview, Jensen said he would not support exceptions to an abortion ban in the instances of rape or incest.
"I want to absolutely come along the side of women and support and protect them," Jensen said Tuesday. "This is our opportunity. We need to do more."
Walz pushed back on Jensen changing his stance.
"This is not about trusting women, it's not about holding clear convictions. It's about changing your positions as the winds blow," Walz said. "This is about life and death. This is about providers making the most personal decisions with a woman with nobody else in-between them."
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Tuesday marked the first time Walz and Jensen had appeared together in a debate since more than four dozen people were indicted as part of the $250 million Feeding Our Future scandal.
Jensen blasted Walz for the alleged food fraud scheme, saying his administration participated in a cover-up.
"Governor Walz and his team could have stopped this anywhere along the line," Jensen said. "But when it was getting warm in the kitchen for Governor Walz, because basically it appears there was a cover-up. Two questions are huge on all of our minds. What did Governor Walz know and when did he know it?"
Walz, who's repeatedly defended the Minnesota Department of Education for notifying the FBI, said no one agrees with the fraud and they'll continue to ensure those responsible go to jail.
"We will continue to put things in place as they've already done at the federal level, rolling and putting back in some of those safeguards," Walz said. "I think the after action on this is for us to strengthen those."
Walz went on to defend his response to riots following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
"I'm proud of Minnesota's response, I'm proud of Minnesota's first responders who were out there from firefighters to police to the National Guard, to citizens that were out there," he said. "There have been several occasions since then from Derek Chauvin's trial to the murder of Daunte Wright where the potential for this to happen again was there. It did not because of the lessons learned and the ability to mobilize that force."
Jensen said he would have followed the chain of command immediately had he been in that position, in what he called arguably the biggest crisis he's seen in his lifetime.
"We have experts, we have a Commissioner of Public Safety, and we have police chiefs in Minneapolis and St. Paul," Jensen said. "You have to lean into these people. There were plans, there were methodologies already created that should've been kicked into gear. Tim Walz should've been using the bully pulpit to go down and help, be with people and calming the people. We should not have had TV analysts and TV journalists saying, 'Where is our governor?'"
Gov. Walz and Dr. Jensen will debate once more on October 28. Neither of the two October debates will have a live audience.