• Minnesota Governor Tim Walz encouraged Democratic governors to challenge unconstitutional mandates from President Trump.
• Walz visited Wisconsin to support liberal Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford and criticize Republicans for not holding in-person town halls.
• Walz attributed the Democrats’ 2024 presidential election loss to an inability to connect with rural voters seeking change.

EAU CLAIRE – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he and other Democratic governors should not follow unconstitutional mandates from President Donald Trump in an effort “to challenge and push as far as we can” against the new administration.

The former Democratic vice presidential nominee in his first visit to the Badger State since the 2024 presidential election made the comments ahead of a town hall-style event in Eau Claire, a liberal-leaning city in a congressional district held by Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Walz stopped in the battleground district this week to rally voters for liberal state Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford and as part of a multi-state tour to highlight Republicans who have stopped holding in-person town halls after backlash over the Trump administration’s government cuts.

Walz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview that he attributes losing Wisconsin and other battleground states in November to an inability to effectively offer enough change to rural voters.

More: Gilbert: This was one of the most ‘Wisconsin’ elections ever: Small swings, wild turnout

Trump defeated Harris in Wisconsin by about 29,000 votes as part of a victory that swept battleground states. Now, as he is floated as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, Walz said he and other Democratic governors should refuse to go along with orders from the Republican president made outside of the bounds of the U.S. Constitution. “What governors can do is use our authority and states’ rights, which, again, the Trump administration doesn’t believe anything about right now … and we’re very clear about that,” Walz said.

“I’ll continue to follow the law, but I think we have a responsibility to challenge and push as far as we can. And when Donald Trump issues an order that is unconstitutional, we have no responsibility to follow that, and we won’t in Minnesota.”The event was part of a tour Walz organized characterized as filling a gap where Republicans have declined to hold public events so to avoid confrontational audience members.

Three Trump supporters turned away from Tim Walz event

However, at least three supporters of Trump were turned away from the Eau Claire event. One told the Journal Sentinel he had a ticket and was stopped after entering the Pablo Center in downtown Eau Claire because of the red Make America Great Again hat he was wearing.

“We were proud to welcome more than 900 people to our town hall in Eau Claire tonight, and I’m confident we had folks join in who did not agree with us on absolutely everything,” Joe Oslund, a spokesman for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said when asked about the decision to turn the Trump supporters away. “We’re always happy to engage with folks who hold different points of view, but when you show up in funny hats looking to cause shenanigans, let’s just save each other the trouble here.”

A Republican who tracks Democrats at events to find content for attack ads was allowed to stay in the audience, according to the party.

Ahead of the event, Van Orden said Walz’s tour to his district that borders Minnesota “is simply a desperate attempt to save face and remain relevant after his embarrassing defeat, which sent him back to Minnesota in disgrace.”

“America is finally moving in the right direction, thanks to President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, and voters throughout the Third District have no desire to Minnesota their Wisconsin.”

Walz’s first stop was Friday in Des Moines, Iowa, in a district represented by U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, a Republican who has not committed to holding town halls this year.

Walz took questions for about an hour from Democrats who asked how to combat potential cuts to Medicaid programs and ways to compete with Republicans in public appeal, among other topics.

“I don’t think we would have won the election if we’d gone on Joe Rogan, but I don’t think we would’ve got beat any worse,” Walz told the crowd, referring to a decision by the Harris campaign to not appear on Rogan’s mega-popular podcast.

“I worried about this in the last couple weeks of the election. I was in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and in the countryside, I saw a sign split in half: Trump good, Kamala bad,” Walz said.

“I’m like, Jesus, are we first graders? What the hell, it worked. It worked. They did it. They made it simple.”

Walz told the Journal Sentinel the Harris-Walz campaign failed to represent enough change to turn out the number of voters needed to defeat Trump.

More: Gilbert: The Wisconsin polling data that should trouble Democrats and cheer Republicans

“It was our job to win these these states, I think especially rural Wisconsin, they wanted change. They didn’t feel like they were getting that. And quite honestly, they didn’t think the message they were hearing was the one to make a difference.”

Walz stopped in Eau Claire two weeks ahead of the April 1 spring election when Wisconsin voters will cast ballots in the state Supreme Court race for ideological control of the court.

More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel

The race has broken national records for the most expensive state court battle in history. The race is being eyed as a test of support for Trump after the first few months of his presidency during which he and billionaire Elon Musk have leveled massive cuts to the federal workforce, including to agencies serving veterans and schools.

“Look, you can start to lame duck this on April 1,” Walz told the crowd Tuesday. “Then we win the Virginia governor’s race. And then you got guys like (Van Orden) here saying ‘shit, Trump’s done in a couple of years, this is looking bad. The momentum is changing. I think I’m feeling something, and it feels like maybe I’m growing a spine and I’m going to stand up for my people, because if I don’t, I’m going to get my ass kicked in the midterm election.’”

‘People v. Musk’ town hall event

Tuesday’s event was billed as a “People v. Musk” town hall event as part of a new Democratic focus on Musk. On Friday, a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to pass a budget fix that will avert a government shutdown, but which many Democrats derided as caving to Republican pressure and handing Musk a blank check.

Some Democrats have called for Schumer to step down as minority leader. Walz declined to weigh in.

“I don’t question his commitment to protecting the American public but I think being through this fight in the fall and being through this fight as a governor, this is a different fight, and we have to have different tactics,” he told the Journal Sentinel.

Republicans have argued that Democrats are targeting GOP town halls for organized protests as liberal groups have encouraged turnout at the events. Some Republicans, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, referred to those voicing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration as “professional protesters.”

Rebecca Cooke, the Democrat who narrowly lost to Van Orden last November, said this week she will challenge him again in 2026.

Some Wisconsin Republicans have suggested they’ll continue to hold in-person town halls despite the directive from party leadership, though others have been noncommittal.

Van Orden, whose western Wisconsin House seat has become a main target for Republicans as they seek to flip control of the House, said at a tele-town hall earlier this month that he would not hold in-person town halls, citing the push from Democratic groups to send protesters to the events.

Van Orden did not take live questions from the audience during the tele-town hall. A staffer during the call noted “a few folks sent in questions ahead of time,” which the staffer read. Multiple people who participated in the call told the Journal Sentinel that the comment function was turned off on the video call.

Last week and on Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, one of Van Orden’s loudest critics, held in-person town hall events in Belmont and Viroqua in an effort to highlight Van Orden’s decision not to hold in-person town halls.

Lawrence Andrea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register contributed to this report.