If Republicans won't hold town halls? Well, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says he will.
Walz is headed to a number of Midwest U.S. House Districts represented by Republicans who have stopped appearing at in-person town hall meetings since President Trump took office.
"I wouldn't do those town halls if I were them either because they have to defend cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, hurting their local public school, fighting a trade war with Canada, just the nonsense and defending President Musk," Walz told MSNBC Wednesday, and joking about billionaire advisor to President Trump and the man charged with cutting federal spending, Elon Musk.
Some Republicans have opted to hold telephone town halls after GOP leaders in the last week have advised lawmakers to skip town halls that have been filled with protesters decrying President Donald Trump administration’s slashing of federal government. Trump and other Republicans have accused paid activists of taking control of town halls.
Walz says he's making the case that the Democratic Party will be there for their families. He'll be kicking his tour off in the Iowa district represented by Republican Congressman Zach Nunn Friday.
Despite the move to spread his message beyond Minnesota, Walz continues to downplay a possible presidential run in 2028.
"This is us going out and talking to people, making the case that people are absolutely clear that both parties are not the same," Governor Walz told the cable network. "One stands with Elon Musk, the billionaires, and the dismantling of America as we know it. And one that's going to be there for their families. And if we're not out there, Donald Trump, all the podcasts, all the money will fill that void. So yeah, I'm going."
GOP lawmakers have at times found themselves at a loss to explain the cuts, led by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, that are leaving federal workers suddenly out of jobs in communities across the country.
On Thursday, 21 Democratic attorneys general - including Walz's home state of Minnesota - filed suit against the Trump administration's sweeping layoffs across the Education Department, saying it amounts to an illegal dismantling of an agency created by Congress.
Also on Thursday, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered President Donald Trump's administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies, blasting their tactics as he slowed the new president's dramatic downsizing of the federal government.
Walz's town hall tour includes stops in Republican-held districts in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio, plus some in Minnesota. Minnesota's governor has significantly ramped up his national profile in the last year, and was Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' pick for a running mate as vice president. Harris-Walz eventually lost with Donald Trump being re-elected to a second term.