Over the past few years I’ve written at least a half-dozen columns comparing Wisconsin’s and Minnesota’s economy.
Up until voters in the Badger State decided to put Republican Scott Walker in charge, the two states — as they had been for decades — were like two peas in a pod. Their economies mirrored each other, their average individual incomes were comparable, their universities and health care outcomes were on par. They were, after all, two states that had similar beginnings and shared the same cultures.
Where Wisconsin often outshined its neighbor to the west was with its professional and university football teams. (Sorry, Vikings and Gophers.)
But things started to change during the 2010s with the emergence of two governors with starkly contrasting ideas. Democrat Mark Dayton took over in Minnesota while Republican Walker and a lockstep Wisconsin Legislature assumed control in Wisconsin.
The trajectories of the two states moved in opposite directions. Wisconsin did away with public labor unions, cut funding for schools and safety net programs, enacted a right-to-work law, refused to increase the minimum wage — which to this day still stands at $7.25 an hour — declined to consider child care aid, cut taxes for the wealthy and refused to expand Medicaid to low-income workers under the Affordable Care Act.
Meanwhile, Minnesota raised the minimum wage, raised taxes on the wealthy, expanded educational and infrastructure spending, increased aid to low-income families, including child care support, and was one of the first states to embrace Medicaid expansion.
The result, according to the Economic Policy Institute: “On virtually every metric, workers and families in Minnesota are better off than their counterparts in Wisconsin — and the decisions of state lawmakers have been instrumental in driving many of those differences.”
When Wisconsin voters decided to jettison Walker in 2018, Republicans, thanks to the most gerrymandered districting in America, maintained complete control of the Legislature, allowing them to block most of the initiatives by the new governor, Democrat Tony Evers.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Dayton stepped down in 2018 and was replaced with another Democrat, Tim Walz, who like Evers was reelected in 2022. He is now the Democratic candidate for vice president.
It didn’t hurt that the Minnesota’s Legislature won a slim Democratic majority after the 2022 election. That helped Walz pick up where Dayton had left off.
What’s been amusing is the Republican Party’s attempts to paint Walz as a dangerous left-wing extremist who is out of step with America. Even some traditionally left-of-center pundits have suggested that Harris missed an opportunity to pick a more moderate running mate who could serve as a foil to her liberalness.
Trump’s veep pick, JD Vance, called Walz “a radical human being who comes from the far-left wing of the Democrat Party.” A GOP strategist predicted that “guy has done so much stuff (as governor), he’s just going to be a gift to the battleground states.”
But what is out of step with America, and what’s so “radical,” with giving school kids free lunch, paid family and medical leave, enacting sensible gun safety measures like a red flag law and background checks, and protecting abortion and voting rights?
As the Daily Kos outlined, Walz signed bills to implement universal paid family and medical leave (80% of registered voters support it), provide free breakfast and lunch to all public school students (74% of likely voters support it), and legalize recreational marijuana (70% of Americans support it).
He approved a law that will provide free tuition to the state’s public colleges for students from families earning $80,000 or less a year, another popular policy. In 2019, a Gallup poll found that 63% of Americans want to provide free tuition to state colleges for students from low- or middle-income families.
Perhaps it’s those who view these issues as “radical” who are the ones out of step.
Wisconsin Republicans, too, were quick to jump on the narrative that Walz, like Harris, is some kind of socialist, even communist, radical.
“Tim Walz is the perfect representation of the Democrat Party today. Overseeing Minnesota’s finances, Walz blew a $17.5 billion surplus in four months, raised taxes by $10 billion, and increased government spending by almost 40%,” complained Wisconsin’s 3rd District GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s opponent in November, Eric Hovde, accused Walz, Harris and Baldwin of being on the side of defunding the police, open borders, illegal immigration, and radical transgender ideology for kids.”
“The middle ground of the Democrat Party has officially waved the white flag of surrender to the far left,” chimed in Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming. “The Democratic Party and Kamala Harris have cast aside common sense to placate their extremist wing.”
You’d think a guy with such awful reviews wouldn’t be very popular with the folks in Minnesota. Right now, though, he’s enjoying a 56% approval rating, not bad for a “dangerous radical” in a northern state.
Before flinging too many stones at their neighbor, Wisconsin Republicans might want to ponder why it is that Minnesota’s economy in a seven-year period grew 11% to Wisconsin’s 8%, and wages in the Gopher state rose 9.7% compared to our 6.4%.
These “radicals” might just know something we don’t.