MINNEAPOLIS — The national “Republicans for Harris” wave has gained supporters in Minnesota, with former Gov. Arne Carlson at the forefront.
The campaign recently published a press release listing 10 Minnesota Republicans who have voiced support for the Harris-Walz ticket. Carlson, who served as Minnesota’s governor from 1991 to 1999, said in the Oct. 3 release that “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are the perfect team and the right tonic for this moment in history.”
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The list also includes former Republican operative Tom Horner, former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP Michael Brodkorb, as well as lifelong Minnesota Republicans Linda Hennen, Angela Rice and Vincent Wang.
Republicans for Harris is advertising nationally, with Former Rep. Liz Cheney and hundreds of former White House staffers for Republican administrations voicing their support for the Democratic ticket.
Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Isaac Schultz said several of the Republicans who have come out in support of the Harris-Walz ticket had previously endorsed Walz for governor.
“So it’s not shocking at all to me that they are supporting him as he runs for vice president now, but I also don’t think that is any sort of an indicator as to the support for President Trump,” Schultz said.
Schultz explained that he would question whether some of these Republicans “can call themselves Republicans,” given their endorsements in recent years, and calling out the fact that Carlson and Brodkorb voted Democrat in 2022.
“Governor Carlson was an independent-Republican in the ’90s, but he has consistently endorsed Democrats in recent election cycles,” Schultz said. “I don’t think he has supported a Republican candidate for statewide office in at least 10 years.”
Horner, one of the “Republicans for Harris,” said he still supports Republicans, but that he feels more freedom to vote outside of his party since retiring from politics.
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“Republicans who hold office or who want to hold office do have different pressures and lead them to support Donald Trump,” Horner said. “Clearly, this is the party of Donald Trump.”
Horner said he feels Walz can take things a step too far at times, listing the program to offer free breakfast and lunch at the state’s participating schools as an example. Even so, he finds himself supporting the Walz-Harris ticket.
“We’ve lost the ability to compromise. … Both parties have moved a little bit right or left,” Horner said in reference to the Minnesota Legislature. “I think the Republican Party, though, has moved much farther to the right, and in a lot of ways, has lost what I’ve always thought to be the core conservative principles.”
Brodkorb, who served as deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP from 2009 to 2011, also referenced these “lost principles” in his reasons for supporting Harris.
“My support of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz is not about abandoning the Republican Party,” Brodkorb said in a press release. “It is about standing up for the principles the party once represented — principles that will be at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House.”
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is not supporting Harris, explained what he makes of some Republicans turning to Harris in Minnesota.
“If you haven’t closed a sale with your product in nearly 20 years, it’s long past the time to get a better product, better marketing, or both,” Pawlenty said. “For statewide elections, that’s where Minnesota's Republican party now finds itself.”
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Pawlenty was referring to the last time a Republican won a statewide election in Minnesota in 2006, when he won a second term as governor.
Pawlenty said Republicans need to “claw back” the support they’ve lost in the suburbs, and that he hopes disaffected Republicans work to improve their party in Minnesota rather than support Harris.
“We need to build a coalition that includes base Republicans but also welcomes all types of Republicans and independent voters, too,” Pawlenty said. “A statewide candidate that doesn’t have that type of political appeal and skill will fail here.”
Schultz, on the other hand, said that from his time door-knocking this election season, he believes the Minnesota Republican party “has never been more united.”
“President Trump represents a far stronger coalition of voters than what I see for Harris and Walz,” Schultz said, pointing to blue-collar workers and members of the Teamsters trade union in Minnesota who have declared support for Trump.
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