Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has a new nickname now that he’s in the political spotlight.
The Democrat was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate this week and has quickly been absorbed into the campaign as a useful political asset.
Being a white military veteran from the Midwest broadens Harris’ appeal to new segments of voters, but Republicans have been quick to highlight his progressive credentials that earned him a spot on Harris’ shortlist.
“I’ve heard people call him Tampon Tim, because why use as governor a progressive individual who wanted to put tampons in kids’ locker rooms at school?” said Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Harris’ vice presidential nominee’s gender policies.
The name “Tampon Tim” has since been used in conservative circles to describe the governor chosen to bolster Harris’s presidential prospects.
Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a Harris/Walz campaign event at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Republicans now call him “Tampon Tim” because of a law he signed in 2023 providing menstrual care products in boys’ school bathrooms.
“He’s a progressive governor,” Mast said.
“That’s why it makes perfect sense that he was chosen by the Biden administration or the Harris administration, because they are simply a continuation of the extremism of the Biden administration.”
Mast also suggested Harris has connections to Biden’s worst presidential decisions, such as the botched U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and “certainly the southern border, they’re trying to downplay that.”
At the heart of the new “Tampon Tim” moniker is the governor’s decision to sign a 2023 law requiring schools to provide menstrual supplies in boys’ bathrooms in Minnesota schools.
Specifically, the bill states that “products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through 12.
The measure was intended to provide discreet accommodation for transgender students in the bathroom of their choice.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate this week.
Since the announcement, conservatives have been criticizing Walz for his political record.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz arrive at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, August 7, 2024. Harris and Walz are speaking at a campaign rally in Eau Claire on Wednesday.
Republicans in the state legislature attempted to amend the effort to apply only to women’s restrooms, but that effort failed and the bill providing tampons and sanitary pads in men’s restrooms became law.
“As a woman, I believe there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support installing tampons in boys’ bathrooms in public schools,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, said Tuesday.
“Tim Walz supports these radical policies. In fact, he signed a bill to do so.”
She called Walz’s gender policies a “threat to women’s health.”
In addition to Republicans and Trump’s teams, other notable conservatives have also been using the term menstrual.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., speaks at the Republican National Convention in July. He, along with many other conservatives, were among those calling Walz “Tampon Tim.”
“Tampon Tim is my name, nothing more,” talk show host Megyn Kelly wrote on X.
Host Liz Wheeler wrote on the same platform: “Tampon Tim is, without a doubt, the best political nickname of all time. It’s so… wildly effective. In a word, it tells you everything you need to know about Tim Walz’s dangerous radicalism.”
“He put tampons in men’s bathrooms. He transformed children. He took away their parental rights. It’s progressive and it’s creepy,” she continued.
In addition, the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America also criticized Walz’s gender policies.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz comprise the most pro-choice presidential ticket America has ever seen. There is no difference between them on this issue,” SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Specifically, the bill signed by Walz states that “products must be available to all menstruating students” in grades four through 12.
‘Walz is no moderate when it comes to abortion. Last year, Walz signed the ‘PRO Act,’ which at the time was the most extreme law in the country, enshrining abortion on demand during pregnancy as a ‘fundamental right.’
He then signed a law vastly expanding taxpayer-funded abortion, eliminating state protections for informed consent and significantly weakening protections for babies born alive,” she continued.