Tim Walz garners support from South Dakota Dems as Kristi Noem labels him a ‘radical’

South Dakota’s top Republican leaders are attacking the newly announced Democratic presidential ticket.

Gov. Kristi Noem and Sen. John Thune took to social media after the news broke Tuesday that Vice President Kamala Harris had chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.

Walz’s elevation to the campaign post was quickly criticized by Noem, who wrote Tuesday morning that her Midwestern counterpart was “no leader.”

“He’s a radical,” Noem wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I served with him in Congress. He pretended to be moderate, then showed his true extremist colors as soon as he became Governor.”

Noem and Walz served in Congress together from 2011 to 2019, and were elected to governorship for their respective states in 2018.

Noem also claimed South Dakota has been beating the neighboring blue state economically for years. In a follow-up post, Noem labeled Walz as “terribly radical” based on a failed state bill brought by two Republican legislators that would have allowed Minnesota counties to essentially leave the state.

“Last year, nearly 7,000 Minnesotans moved to South Dakota because Walz took his people’s Freedom away. Harris-Walz will be the most radical left-wing ticket in American history,” Noem wrote.

The second-term South Dakota governor was once herself considered a contender for former President Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick. She received international criticism when she admitted to killing a 14-month-old hunting dog in a recent memoir, which hurt her public image within her own party. The book also had errors and exaggerations regarding meetings with foreign leaders, including a fabricated account of a meeting between the governor and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Thune echoed Noem’s sentiment and called the Harris-Walz ticket “the most radical and liberal presidential ticket in history.”

“We can’t turn the country into California. Vote Trump-Vance,” Thune wrote on X.

Conversely, South Dakota Democrats were quick to back Harris’ choice.

State Party Chair Shane Merrill lauded Walz in a Tuesday statement, calling him a “proven leader.”

“He’s shown that he can work across party lines, including when he flipped his district for US Congress. And, with a slim Democratic majority in the Minnesota legislature, he’s worked on bipartisan policies for the betterment of his state,” Merrill wrote. “I’m thrilled to see the Midwest and small town America represented on the Democratic Presidential ticket.”

He also compared the second-term Minnesota governor to Noem on the topic of youth food programs. South Dakota has resisted the use of federal funding meant to combat child hunger, while Walz earned the goodwill of teachers and children by signing a universal free school meals bill into law in 2023.