In what is expected to be a tightly contested 2022 gubernatorial race, the leading republican candidate Scott Jensen has chosen a running mate: former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk.
Birk, who has not served in a public office before, would be Lieutenant Governor if Jensen wins the election in November. The announcement was made Tuesday and on Wednesday Birk joined the Chad Hartman Show to discuss his candidacy.
When asked if he is qualified to be the next Governor in the event something happened to Jensen, Birk acknowledged his lack of experience and that he is no “political wonk” but said he has the leadership skills to do the job well.
“I think that’s the biggest thing with that position and I think that’s what’s lacking right now in the state of Minnesota is leadership. Leadership is invisible until it isn’t and anybody can lead when things are good, when things are fine, but we’ve had some things happen. We’ve had a pandemic. We’ve had the George Floyd thing and what you’ve seen in Minnesota is a failure of leadership.”
Birk said he believes the broader political conversation is driven too much by the outskirts of each party, and when asked where he disagrees with the far-right agenda, he pointed to the 2020 election.
“I think we need to get past Trump and the election and all that. I think we need to move forward, quite honestly,” he said. “I don’t think we are doing any good going back two years and talking about things and complaining and just basically making noise and making any type of progress."
Birk acknowledged Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election but stopped short of denouncing those that believe the election was stolen or those that fail to definitively say Biden was the victor, one of whom is his running mate Jensen.
“I think Scott is going to say what he believes and I’m going to say what I believe. We are not going to agree on everything,” Birk said when asked if Jensen should accept the results of the election.
Birk later voiced his disagreement with vaccine mandates, saying he and his family are not vaccinated.
“I think everyone should be allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to healthcare,” he said. “...People that were unvaccinated, I think we got villainized by government, by media as being super spreaders, for being selfish, for bogging down the health care system.”
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