Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart spoke on “Iowa Press” Aug. 10, 2023. Screen shot courtesy of Iowa PBS.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said 2024 Democratic challengers to President Joe Biden are welcome to campaign in Iowa, but said she was concerned about recent comments made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that have been widely condemned as antisemitic.
Hart, joined by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke about the state fair and Iowa caucuses Thursday during the recording of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. While much of the attention is focused on the Republican presidential candidates vying for the 2024 nomination, there are multiple candidates running against Biden in the upcoming presidential nominating cycle. Two of those candidates, Kennedy and Marianne Williamson, plan to speak at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox Saturday afternoon.
Hart said Iowa has “a longstanding tradition of candidates coming to the Iowa State Fair,” but she was “concerned about the antisemitic comments that Robert F. Kennedy has recently said.”
“And so we’re not very comfortable with that,” Hart said. “But having said that, anybody has the ability to come to the state fair.”
Kennedy in July brought up the idea that COVID-19 had been genetically engineered and “ethnically targeted” to attack Caucasian and Black people, and to spare Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese people. The candidate’s comments on COVID-19 have been widely condemned by Democrats.
In a news conference at the state fair, Walz was asked about Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, who is considering challenging Biden for the 2024 nomination. The Minnesota governor called Phillips a great congressman but said he wants “all of us, stay in our lane” for the Democratic presidential nomination process.
“President Biden will be our nominee,” Walz said. “And it’s not about all the distracting issues: Biden wakes up every morning, doesn’t whine, puts policies forward that have again, brought the country back, in strong position. Against all odds, it looks like we’re gonna avoid a recession that the rest of the world is going to be in. And so I’m not spending much time on that.”
When asked if Biden needs to be on the trail touting his administration’s successes in office, Walz said that Biden was a “humble man,” and that it was up to Democrats across the country to talk more about the successes of Biden administration policies.
“In Minnesota, I’m sure Iowa does this too, if you do something good and talk about it? It doesn’t count,” Walz said. “I think it’s a Minnesota Lutheran thing. That’s our job, that’s up to us talk about that. … I’ll tell you as a governor, Minnesota is faring well, because of the policies that are there. So I think it’s up to us to get out there and talk, and stay focused in this stuff.
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