House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) dinged fellow Minnesotan, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), on Sunday ahead of the vice presidential debate.
In an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Emmer was asked about the debate preparation for Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), of which Emmer served as a stand-in for Walz.
“I’ve known Tim, oh, probably since he was elected almost 20 years ago, and I worked with him directly for four years. I spent the last month just going back [over] all of his old stuff, get his phrases down, his mannerisms, that sort of thing. My job was to be able to play Tim Walz so J.D. Vance knows what he’s gonna see,” he said.
Emmer was then asked how he was able to impersonate the “folksy” Walz, to which he said that Walz comes off as a “nice, down-to-earth guy until people get to know him and his policies.”
“Tim’s been a complete disaster in Minnesota. … His whole congressional district where he played this character for several years of being kind of a folksy, friendly outdoorsman. … He’s not well-liked because once you get to know the real Tim Walz, he’s like Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt,” he said.
Emmer added that Vance “has the issues on his side” and will hold Walz “accountable” when he tries to “deflect.”
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Vance and Walz will face off in the vice presidential debate on Tuesday at 9 p.m. in New York City. CBS News is hosting the debate.
Favorability ratings from RealClearPolitics suggest Vance may need to do more in the debate to sell himself to voters. Vance has a 35.8% favorable to 45.8% unfavorable rating, while polling for Walz shows he has nearly an even split between the two, 40.3% favorable to 39.1% unfavorable.
