George Floyd's death and protests primed for spotlight during Walz-Vance VP debate

WASHINGTON - The greatest crisis of Tim Walz’s time as Minnesota governor came in the hours and days after George Floyd’s murder divided the country over issues of race, policing and civil order.

The 46-year-old’s death in May of 2020 at the hands of police officer Derek Chauvin sparked thousands to protest in the streets of Minneapolis, with rioting, looting and vandalism breaking out in the city - and around the country. Walz deployed the National Guard in his state in the days after to quell the civil unrest.

But the fiery debate over how the events were handled has remained a prominent talking point for Republicans. Ahead of Tuesday night's vice presidential debate in New York City between Republican nominee JD Vance and Walz, Republicans have dragged the two-term Minnesota governor's handling of the protests and the controversy surrounding Floyd's murder back into the spotlight.

Vance accused Walz at a campaign event in Philadelphia last month of letting rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground. Though then-President Donald Trump praised Walz's handling of the protests in a 2020 phone call, the 2024 GOP presidential nominee falsely claimed in recent weeks that he had activated the National Guard, not the Minnesota governor, in response to the civil disorder.

During his debate with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in September, Trump accused Harris of raising money for "criminals that killed people, that burned down Minneapolis" to get them out of jail.

And political experts and strategists say that Walz, who has spent little time responding to the attacks from Republicans, will have to address this key issue at the debate, where tens of millions of people nationwide are expected to tune in to hear the two vice presidential nominees face off.

"Walz has a big record to defend," said Aaron Kall, director of debate for the University of Michigan's debate program and editor of the 2016 book "Debating The Donald."

The Harris-Walz campaign referred USA TODAY to a statement from the chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Ken Martin, who said: "There’s only one candidate for President who is responsible for starting a riot, and that was Donald Trump on January 6th.”

What Walz has said about his handling of the protests

As Walz campaigns around the country as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, he’s facing a big task: defending his own record on a national level while establishing himself as Harris’ potential governing partner.

At a news conference in Minnesota last month, when asked if he would have done anything differently in the aftermath surrounding the Floyd protests, Walz replied that “decisions were made in a situation, that is what it is, and I simply believed that we tried to do the best we can in each of those." The exchange occurred when Walz was still on the shortlist to be Harris' running mate.

He did not, however, bring up his handling of the crisis in his speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.

In the immediate wake of the protests, Walz faced criticism for moving too slowly in responding to the civil unrest and activating the National Guard. At a May 29, 2020, press conference, Walz said that he yielded to local police and leadership until the protests got out of hand and the state took action.

Questions about why he didn’t act faster are a “valid critique,” Walz said at the time.

He later added that “if the issue was is that the state should have moved faster. Yeah, that is on me, whether it’s the forces that were underneath. I don’t think a lack of leadership. I think the lack of coordination and the lack of understanding what we needed to ask for.”

But the Minnesota governor won re-election in a highly contested 2022 gubernatorial race, despite a then-Republican controlled state Senate publishing a report in October 2020 that claimed he hesitated to use the National Guard that “cost Minnesotans their lives, communities, and livelihoods.”

During a gubernatorial debate in 2022, Walz said when asked if he would have done anything different to quell the unrest that, "Sitting on the sidelines and critiquing, that’s not what being governor is. It’s making the hard decisions at the time."

"I’m proud of Minnesota’s response; I’m proud of Minnesota’s first-responders who were out there, from firefighters to police to the National Guard, to citizens that were out there,” Walz said during the debate.

Black Americans feel disillusioned by GOP attacks, defend Walz

But a slew of conservative lawmakers and commentators have pounced on Walz's handling of the Floyd protests since Harris added him to the 2024 Democratic ticket. And Black Americans whom USA TODAY spoke with said they feel disillusioned by the Republican attacks and defended Walz's actions.

Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd who endorsed Harris and Walz, said the GOP’s criticisms show many Republicans “just stand for themselves" rather than standing for people.

“You have to understand that Governor Walz, he did everything that he could do. He also brought in the National Guard to restore order. You know, that was the number one goal," Philonise Floyd, 45 of Houston, Texas, said in an August phone interview with USA TODAY.

Tomme Beevas, 45 of Minneapolis said Walz "walked that tightrope as best as anyone else could, being able to listen to the people, have the people feel heard...using the state's resources to protect people and property as best as possible without causing further harm."

But others said they think Walz could have handled the situation better.

"I don't think it's fair that the Republican Party gets to criticize the governor on an issue that they themselves would probably have not done what he did" said Jaylani Hussein, 43 of Minneapolis.

"But at the same time, the governor did not do or he did not listen to the community, because if he did, I think he would have made that situation along that a lot better, and it would have saved him from the embarrassment that he's facing right now," he added.

Will Walz flip the script on Floyd during the debate?

Fred Slocum, associate professor of political science at Minnesota State University, said that Walz not commenting on the Floyd protests frequently on the campaign trail was likely a decision on his part “not to rehash this part of the past.”

Walz “has tried to navigate a middle position between some further-left progressives, including many ‘defund the police’ advocates, insisting on dismantling and reconstituting police departments, and centrists worried about a re-run of 1968 when Richard Nixon won the White House on a ‘law and order’ campaign theme,” he said.

But Tuesday night's vice presidential debate gives Walz an opportunity to address the issue more extensively - if he seizes on the moment.

Amy Koch, former Republican majority leader of the Minnesota Senate and a political strategist, argued that Walz's responses to his handling of the protests haven't been very nuanced.

"The fact that he - when he's even asked - his answer is, it's too thin. It's not it doesn't feel real, because we did the best and the best that we could just isn't - you have to explain what that means, what did your best mean?" she said.

She added that the debate will be critical for Walz to set the record straight. "How a vice presidential candidate reacts to crisis is almost, is really the core component of what you're looking for in a vice president," Koch said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd's death back in spotlight ahead of Walz-Vance VP debate