Tim Walz says Democrats need to answer Americans’ ‘primal scream’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he came to Iowa Friday to answer the “primal scream” coming from Americans demanding that elected officials do more to push back against President Donald Trump’s sweeping, norm-defying agenda.

“There’s a responsibility in this time of chaos where elected officials need to hear what people are irritated about,” he said. “And I would argue that Democratic officials should hear the primal scream that’s coming from America, (which) is, ‘Do something, dammit! This is wrong!’”

Organizers said more than 1,500 people registered to attend the town hall event at Des Moines’ Roosevelt High School Friday afternoon, in the heart of Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.

It was Walz’ first stop on a tour of swing districts where potentially vulnerable Republicans are not holding public town halls of their own.

“A town hall is not a performative event,” Walz told the crowd. “It’s an expression of the people’s right to petition their government.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee recently advised front-line Republicans against holding public town halls in the face of rising anger and protests that have gone viral.

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who represents Iowa’s 3^rd Congressional District, has not committed to holding town halls this year.

More: Iowa GOP Congress member will still hold town halls, despite national advice to avoid them

In a statement, Nunn said he’s held “hundreds of listening sessions across all 21 counties in our district.”

“Iowans voted for change in November, and I’m delivering: securing the border, unleashing U.S. energy and cutting taxes for working Americans,” he said. “While out-of-state Democrats hold fundraisers disguised as forums, we’re focused on real results.”

A spokesperson for Nunn did not respond when asked about the last time the congressman held a public town hall in his district.

National Democrats are also seizing on town halls, hoping to turn it into an election issue ahead of the 2026 midterms.

They announced Friday they would hold “people’s town halls” in competitive congressional districts “to ensure Americans are being heard — regardless of where they live or who they voted for last year.”

Iowa’s 3^rd District is on their list of targets.

‘Fight back!’ Iowa Democrats tell Tim Walz

Some of Iowans’ anger was on display Friday as Walz opened up the town hall, inviting participants to raise their hands and shout out something they wanted their elected officials to know.

Several of the answers included phrases like “fight back” and “be more aggressive.”

Democrats have struggled to land on a cohesive message to Americans or a mode of resistance to the breakneck pace of Trump’s policy rollouts.

Some Democrats have been frustrated with what they see as weak, performative displays of opposition, including the small signs Democratic members of Congress held during Trump’s joint address earlier this month.

On Friday, a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to pass a budget fix that will avert a government shutdown, but which many Democrats derided as caving to Republican pressure.

“I hear them,” Walz said in an interview with the Des Moines Register. “I don’t think we have the answer to it yet, but I think if you’re a Democratic elected official, you better be out listening to them, because this is growing. And it’s growing amongst independents, and it gives us an opportunity to try and bring those folks in and tell them why it matters for them to vote, and they should vote with us, because these are the policies you’ll get.”

Walz said Democrats should be jealous of the way Republicans have aggressively moved to enact their agenda. He said they should take from it the lesson that when they’re elected, they have to deliver if they want to keep Americans’ support.

“We’re certainly going to follow the law,” he said. “But we have got to move with more speed to impact people’s lives.”

To the crowd, Walz was encouraging, saying their anger is justified.

“The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you’re overreacting,” he said. “You’re not.”

In Iowa, Tim Walz says he’s not testing the waters for a future presidential run

Although national Democrats stripped Iowa of its first-in-the-nation status ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle, Walz’s appearance in the state still prompted questions about his future electoral ambitions.

Walz told the Register that he’s not testing the waters for a 2028 presidential run.

“I was in Helena, Montana, last week,” he noted. “Not usually a stop on a presidential campaign.”

Walz said he thinks the Democratic Party needs to have a conversation about how candidates for president campaign so that they reach all of America.

He said Iowa turned even further toward Republicans after Democrats stopped showing up to compete in its caucuses and when Democrats stopped giving the state what it needs.

He wouldn’t say the decision to remove Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status was a mistake, but he said Democrats need to treat voters in every state like they matter.

“I know the argument was Iowa’s not diverse enough or whatever,” he said. “Iowa’s diverse in rural folks. Iowa’s diverse in folks that we need to make sure are voting for us.”

He said if the decision were up to him, he’d rotate which states get to hold first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses or primaries each cycle.

“I think it’s very disheartening for people,” he said. “I was on a national campaign, and I was in seven states. That doesn’t seem like that’s the way it should be.”

Rather than boosting his own platform, Walz said he’s trying to use his notoriety to put the attention on Americans across the country.

“I understand I’ve been given a megaphone, if you will,” he said. “I’m trying to take that megaphone and hand it to people. I’m going to go to these districts and hand it to constitutes who feel like they’re not being heard and let them speak.”

Walz’s visit is ‘a manufactured production’ designed to distract, Republicans say

Republicans criticized Walz ahead of his visit.

“Far-left radical Democrat Tim Walz is in Iowa today for no other reason than to spread lies about Republicans,” 4^th District U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra posted to the social media website X. “In Iowa, we like our low taxes, safe communities, and freedom. Liberal Tim Walz could learn a thing or two about leadership from our awesome Governor, @KimReynoldsIA!”

Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds also posted a graphic on X comparing the states’ policies on things such as taxes and COVID-era enforcement policies.

“Tim Walz thinks he can come to Iowa to teach us a lesson,” she wrote. “I’d say, he could learn a thing or two from Iowa! Common sense, low taxes and freedom!”

Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the event is “a manufactured production orchestrated to distract voters from the Democrats’ failed and out-of-touch record.”

“Sending in certified loser Tampon Tim won’t solve Democrats’ branding problems or detract from Zach Nunn’s record of wins,” she said.

Republicans created the nickname ‘Tampon Tim’ after the governor signed legislation requiring schools to provide free menstrual products in public school bathrooms.

Iowa’s Republican-controlled Legislature advanced a Republican-led bill that would enact a similar policy in Iowa earlier this year.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8244. Follow her on X at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: In Iowa, Tim Walz says Democrats are demanding leaders ‘do something!’