Pastor: Tim Walz Puts ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ Into Action | Opinion

This presidential election is a choice between two futures, one where freedoms are protected and another where the MAGA movement controls more of our lives.
This presidential election is also a choice between two visions for rural America. Sadly, we are used to Ohio senator and Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s vision. We are used to the MAGA movement scapegoating immigrants and other refugees as the problem rural communities face, when in fact, rural economies absolutely depend on them. What former President Donald Trump and Vance are doing to the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, happened to the Somali community in Minnesota in 2016, leading to the bombing of a mosque by white supremacists.
This dangerous manufacturing of fear and division distracts us from the real economic pain caused by politicians like Vance, who defend the super-rich and greedy corporations responsible for the hollowing out of rural communities. We are used to it, but we don’t have to accept it.
The selection of Gov. Tim Walz as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate is a new moment for rural politics. There are rural people who are hungry for another vision—many of us, actually. The Walz vision understands the economic pain rural communities face, and it works to build bridges across differences so we can govern for all people.
I live in southern Minnesota, the heart of Walz country. I’ve seen first-hand the challenges rural communities face and how Walz has responded in Minnesota. I grew up in a town of 700 people in Iowa, have served as a pastor in small communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota, represented a rural district in the Minnesota House during Walz’s first term as governor, and now I work as a community organizer in rural Minnesota.
I made the leap from the pulpit to politics because the MAGA movement offended the central Christian value I was teaching every week, the command to love our neighbors. We are desperate for leaders who can help us see those who are different from us as neighbors. Walz’s response to Trumpism in 2018 was his One Minnesota platform for governor. The closing argument was, “Minnesota, we are greater than fear.” This ethic of neighborliness isn’t just the right thing to do, it is smart, too. Efforts at unity broaden coalitions for governing and solving problems, and rural places need leaders who want to solve problems.
As a pastor, I’ve seen family members choosing between keeping their job and visiting their child with cancer in the hospital. As a legislator, I heard how small businesses in small communities are desperate for workers but they can’t compete with the benefits large companies can offer, like paid leave. Walz signed paid family and medical leave into law to make sure we have time to care for our loved ones, and the law helps small businesses compete, strengthening rural economies.
Unaffordable health care and medical debt are primary reasons small farms and small businesses are folding across rural America. Farmers and small business owners tell me how they avoid going to the doctor because they are underinsured and afraid of the bill. Providers tell me stories of the patients who died because their fear of health care costs cost them their lives. A farmer who owns a fabricating business and a lawyer in my community both told me they lose employees to the city because they can’t afford to offer health insurance. Walz signed a path to a public option into law that would allow small business owners like these to buy into state insurance at an affordable price. The public option will save lives and slow the exodus of rural people to the nearest city.
A rural hospital CEO told me he was excited to have hired a new nurse, but 10 days later she said she couldn’t take the job because she couldn’t find housing and childcare. This is a common story in small towns. Walz has put more funds towards childcare and housing and has been digging into zoning reform to increase housing stock across our state. Walz passed free school meals to make sure no child in Minnesota starts the day hungry because poverty is all too common, especially in rural places.
This is just the beginning of what is possible when we have leaders who want to solve problems for all of us.
The Walz vision can begin a new future for rural politics. We need leaders working to unite us across race and place, expanding the coalition ready to govern and provide real solutions. Now we have a messenger stepping to the national stage, ready to make the case.
Rev. Todd Lippert is an ordained minister and founder of the Rural Organizing Project of Faith in Minnesota, 501(C4) faith-based organization. Rev. Lippert also served as a Minnesota State Representative from 2019-2022, representing Northfield, Minnesota.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.