Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has a new nickname as he finds himself in the political spotlight.
This week, the Democrat was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate and the campaign quickly saw her as a useful political asset.
Because Harris is a white war veteran from the Midwest, he is more appealing to new groups of voters. Republicans, however, like to emphasize his progressive values, which earned him a spot on Harris’ ticket.
“I’ve heard people call him Tampon Tim, because why would you put a progressive who wanted to put tampons in boys’ locker rooms in schools as governor?” said Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, referring to Harris’s vice presidential pick’s gender policies.
The name “Tampon Tim” has since been used in conservative circles to describe the governor charged with boosting Harris’ presidential chances.
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a Harris/Walz campaign event at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Republicans are now calling him “Tampon Tim” because of a law he signed in 2023 that provides menstrual products in the bathrooms of boys’ schools
“He’s a progressive governor,” Mast charged.
“So it makes perfect sense that he would be chosen by the Biden administration or the Harris administration. After all, they are just a continuation of the extremism of the Biden administration.”
Mast also suggested that Harris has ties to Biden’s worst presidential decisions, such as the failed US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and “certainly the southern border, they’re trying to downplay that.”
At the heart of the new “Tampon Tim” nickname is the governor’s decision to sign a law in 2023 requiring Minnesota schools to provide menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms.
The bill specifically states that “the products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through twelve.
The measure was intended to provide transgender students with discreet facilities in the restroom of their choice.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate this week
Since the announcement, conservatives have criticized Walz for his political record
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, arrive at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, August 7, 2024. Harris and Walz speak at a campaign rally in Eau Claire on Wednesday
Republicans in the state legislature attempted to amend the bill to apply only to women’s restrooms, but that failed. The bill to provide tampons and pads in men’s restrooms was signed into law.
“As women, I believe there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who advocate for the use of tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, said Tuesday.
“These are radical policies that Tim Walz supports. He even signed a bill to do so.”
She called Walz’s gender policy a “threat to women’s health.”
In addition to Republicans and Trump’s teams, other well-known conservatives also use the term menstruation.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., speaks at the Republican National Convention in July. He, along with many other conservatives, were among those who called Walz “Tampon Tim”
“Tampon Tim is the name. That’s it,” talk show host Megyn Kelly wrote on X.
Presenter Liz Wheeler wrote on the same platform: ‘Tampon Tim is without a doubt the best political nickname ever. It is so… brutally effective. In one word, it tells you everything you need to know about Tim Walz’s dangerous radicalism.’
“He put tampons in men’s bathrooms! He did trans kids. He took away parental rights. He’s woke & creepy,” she continued.
In addition, the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also strongly criticized Walz’s gender policies.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the most pro-abortion presidential ticket America has ever seen. There is no daylight between them on this issue,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement Tuesday.
The bill Walz signed specifically states that “the products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through twelve.
“Walz is not a moderate on abortion. Last year, Walz signed the PRO Act, the nation’s most extreme bill at the time, which established abortion on demand during pregnancy as a “fundamental right.”
“He then signed a law that significantly expanded the taxpayer-funded abortion law, gutting the state’s informed consent protections and significantly weakening protections for live births,” she continued.