Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had a pretty simple message for Republican presidential candidates visiting the Iowa State Fair: “Mind your own damn business.”
“There’s no need for government to be in the exam room when women are making their decisions. We’ve always had local control of our schools and, as a teacher, I always welcomed parents into the classroom,” Walz said.
The Gopher State Democrat was at the fair Thursday to help provide some pushback against the messaging from the 13 or so GOP presidential candidates who are scheduled to be at the fair. That list of candidates includes frontrunner and former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Many Republican hopefuls have proposed drastic changes to public education in the country ranging from banning books—many of which are written by people of color and/or members of the LGBTQ community—to dissolving the US Department of Education.
“We’ve seen this across the country, they’re banning books,” Walz said. “We’re not interested in that and I’ll tell you, if you follow this type of thing, what we are going to do is put our children at a disadvantage and it’s morally reprehensible.”
Some candidates have also expressed a desire for national bans on abortion after 15 weeks. DeSantis signed a six-week ban in Florida, while Trump has boasted about his US Supreme Court appointees helping overturn Roe v. Wade.
Walz shared his remarks and more thoughts during a joint press conference with Iowa Democrats Chair Rita Hart, who also chimed in on the visiting Republicans.
“They’re talking about their extreme agenda, they are tripping over themselves to make sure that we understand that they are not supportive of Medicare and Social Security, they support book bans, taking away women’s rights,” Hart said.
Earlier in the day, Walz participated in a discussion on the state of public education alongside Hart and Urbandale School Board Member Dan Gutmann.
by Ty Rushing
08/10/23
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