Candidate Comparisons

Tim Walz

1. Enact the Biden administration’s $16 billion Emergency Child Care Funding Request – supports
   1. As Governor, Walz announced $6.2 million in new grants to expand child care across the state.
   2. Harris supported Biden’s series of Executive Orders that:
      1. Cap child care copayments for working families at no more than 7% of a family’s income and encourage states to waive copayments for families at or below 150% of the federal poverty level;
      2. Improve financial stability for child care providers and incentivize their participation in the CCDBG program by ensuring they are paid on-time and based on program enrollment instead of attendance; and,
      3. Make it easier for families to access CCDBG by encouraging states to accept online applications for CCDBG enrollment and to make siblings of children who already receive the subsidy presumptively eligible for benefits.
2. Establish a comprehensive system for aging and disability care – supports
   1. While Governor of Minnesota, Walz signed Executive Order 19-38, establishing the Governor’s Council on an Age Friendly Minnesota.
   2. He has partnered with the Minnesota Council on Disability on policy.
   3. While campaigning in 2020, Harris supported a version of Medicare for All, Medicare for America, which would have funded long-term care at home for older adults and people with disabilities.
   4. The Democratic Platform says “We will protect the health and dignity of older adults and people with disabilities by improving long-term care and supporting family caregivers, and we will invest in care infrastructure by raising wages and the quality of care worker jobs.”

J.D. Vance

1. Enact the Biden administration’s $16 billion Emergency Child Care Funding Request – opposes
   1. In response to a question about affordable child care, Vance said “Maybe Grandma and Grandpa wants to help out a little bit more.”
   2. In a 2021 tweet, Vance said “Universal child care” is a massive subsidy to the lifestyle preferences of the affluent over the preferences of the middle and working class.”
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2. Establish a comprehensive system for aging and disability care – silent
3. Make the rich pay their fair share – opposes
   1. The GOP Platform says it will make the Trump Tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.

Tim Walz

1. 1. Create new federal laws that ensure your right and access to abortion do not depend on where you live or how much money you make – supports
      1. According to reporting from CNN, “The One Minnesota Budget built upon the left-leaning policies that Walz established in the state, including protecting abortion rights and gender-affirming care, investing in affordable housing and instituting clean energy measures.”
      2. The Democratic Platform says “Democrats are committed to restoring the reproductive rights Trump ripped away. With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national legislation to make Roe the law of the land again.”
   2. Enforce existing rights that ensure people can get emergency abortion care at hospitals – supports
      1. Walz signed a bill that enshrined the right to abortion and other reproductive health care into Minnesota statutes
      2. Harris has fully supported abortion rights, both for emergency situations and not. She was the first president or VP to visit an abortion provide

1. Eliminate the Weldon and Hyde amendments – supports
   1. The Democratic Platform says “We will repeal the Hyde Amendment”

J.D. Vance

1. Create new federal laws that ensure your right and access to abortion do not depend on where you live or how much money you make
   1. He has said he is “totally fine” with “some minimum national standard.”
2. Opposed Ohio’s Issue 1 ballot initiative, which provided a state constitutional right to abortion
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3. Enforce existing rights that ensure people can get emergency abortion care at hospitals
   1. Received a grade of A+ on Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s website that grades politicians’ anti-abortion stances for “[standing] up against the extremist nominees of the pro-abortion Biden-Harris administration, and against pro-abortion action both in the administration and through legislation”
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4. Eliminate the Weldon and Hyde amendments – silent

Tim Walz

1. Support the Right to Contraception Act – supports
   1. Walz signed a bill that enshrined the right to contraception into Minnesota statutes
   2. The Democratic Platform says “Democrats are also working to expand access to birth control, which nine in 10 women have used” and “We will strengthen access to contraception so every woman who needs it is able to get and afford it.”
2. Create federal protections for fertility care – supports
   1. Walz signed a bill that enshrined the right to fertility care into Minnesota statutes
   2. The Democratic Platform says “We will protect a woman’s right to access IVF.”
   3. The Harris campaign wished a Happy World IVF Day.

J.D. Vance

1. Support the Right to Contraception Act – opposes
   1. Vance did not vote in the attempt to pass the Right to Contraception Act.
2. Create federal protections for fertility care – opposes
   1. Vance voted against a Senate bill to protect IVF treatments.
   2. The GOP push for fetal personhood would limit the availability of fertility treatments like IVF.

Tim Walz

1. Oppose book bans. – supports
   1. Walz signed a bill making it illegal in Minnesota to ban LGBTQI+ books
   2. The Democratic Platform says “President Biden has also taken action to support LGBTQI+ youth in foster care; and is fighting book bans that censor LGBTQI+ content.”
   3. At the American Federation of Teachers convention, Harris said “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”
2. Oppose curriculum bans and support an honest and inclusive education. – supports
   1. Walz supports new academic standards that include teaching “education on the Holocaust, genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and other genocides”
   2. Harris has been endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers

J.D. Vance

1. Create national protections for public libraries and librarians navigating the unprecedented increase in book bans. – silent
2. Create national protections for teachers and education professionals, barring dismissal based on sexuality, gender expression, marital status, or political beliefs. – opposes
   1. When asked about “teacher’s pushing sex values,” he said in a 2022 interview with Tucker Carlson that “So, one of the of the things we’re learning, Tucker, is that this is being forced by some of these really radical teachers, and they’re hiding it from the parents,” he said. ‘That’s maybe the most pernicious part.” He also called them “groomers.”

Tim Walz

1. Invest in police-free K-12 schools – police make school more dangerous and less safe, particularly for students of color. – supports
   1. Walz signed a bill into law that reformed use of force by school resource officers and “SRO training on topics like de-escalation and responding to mental health crises”
   2. As a Senator, Harris called for fewer police and more social services in schools in a since archived post.
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2. Protect students’ rights to free speech, organizing, and assembly free from police violence. – supports
   1. Harris has shown support for college protests.
3. Incorporate social emotional learning, an honest history of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia, and learning materials and books from diverse authors and that highlight diverse stories, in public schools – supports
   1. Walz supports new academic standards that include teaching “education on the Holocaust, genocide of Indigenous Peoples, and other genocides”
   2. The Democratic Platform says “We’ve helped districts nationwide train and hire 14,000 more counselors and social workers, so kids can heal from the disruptions of COVID, the fear of gun violence, and more. We increased investments in full-service community schools five-fold, providing health care, nutrition, job training, and other wraparound services for kids at school, investing in their futures and making families’ lives easier”

J.D. Vance

1. Invest in police-free K-12 schools – police make school more dangerous and less safe, particularly for students of color.
   1. In the wake of a school shooting, he suggested the answer to gun violence in schools is giving schools more money for security officers.
2. Protect students’ rights to free speech, organizing, and assembly free from police violence. – opposes
   1. Vance condemned student protesters and called them “crazy.”
3. Incorporate social emotional learning, an honest history of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia, and learning materials and books from diverse authors and that highlight diverse stories, in public schools – opposes
   1. In a 2024 interview, Vance said “”On the university principle, the idea that taxpayers should have some influence in how their money is spent at these universities, it’s a totally reasonable thing, and I do think that he’s made some smart decisions there that we could learn from in the United States.”
   2. When asked about public school curriculums in a 2022 interview with Tucker Carlson, he said “At that of the day, like you said, this is about parental rights. What kind of country to want to live in – where families control what values their children grow up in, or where Joe Biden and the pharmaceutical companies get to do that?”

Tim Walz

1. Protect gender affirming care for all – supports
   1. According to reporting from CNN, “The One Minnesota Budget built upon the left-leaning policies that Walz established in the state, including protecting abortion rights and gender-affirming care, investing in affordable housing and instituting clean energy measures.”
   2. The Democratic Platform says “President Biden has delivered on his promise to ban discrimination in health care on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. He has also protected transgender Americans’ access to health care and coverage including gender-affirming care”
2. Clarify through explicit regulations that Title IX protections extend to inclusive protections in athletics. – supports
   1. In their statement of endorsement, Advocates for Trans Equality said “A Harris Administration would not only uphold but also expand upon the protections for transgender Americans established by the Biden Administration.”

J.D. Vance

1. Protect gender affirming care for all – opposes
   1. Vance introduced a bill in the Senate that would prohibit gender affirming care for minors
2. Clarify through explicit regulations that Title IX protections extend to inclusive protections in athletics. – leans oppose
   1. When asked about “teacher’s pushing sex values,” he said in a 2022 interview with Tucker Carlson that “So, one of the of the things we’re learning, Tucker, is that this is being forced by some of these really radical teachers, and they’re hiding it from the parents,” he said. ‘That’s maybe the most pernicious part.” He also called them “groomers.”

Tim Walz

1. Pass the Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act to create stronger recusal standards and an enforceable code of conduct – supports
   1. The Biden-Harris administration endorsed the implementation of term limits for Supreme Court justices, as well as the creation of a binding code of ethics “that require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.”
2. Nominate and confirm judges with a strong record of supporting gender and racial justice issues and who affirmatively declare they will uphold equality, opportunity for all, individual liberty, and the freedom to make personal decisions about our bodies and relationships – supports
   1. Walz appointed the first Black chief justice to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
   2. Harris used her vote in the Senate to confirm a civil rights lawyer to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

J.D. Vance

1. Pass the Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act to create stronger recusal standards and an enforceable code of conduct – leans oppose
   1. He has made statements suggesting that the President does not need to be beholden to the Supreme Court.
2. Nominate and confirm judges with a strong record of supporting gender and racial justice issues and who affirmatively declare they will uphold equality, opportunity for all, individual liberty, and the freedom to make personal decisions about our bodies and relationships – opposes
   1. Vance voted against the confirmation of Judge Nancy Maldonado as the first Hispanic judge to sit on the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
   2. Vance blocked U.S. attorney nominees to protest the federal prosecution of former President Trump.

Tim Walz

1. Protect and expand access to the ballot and restore the Voting Rights Act, including by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – supports
   1. Walz signed new omnibus elections bill House File 3, the “Democracy for the People Act,” into law, which enacted several policies to expand and protect voting access.
   2. Harris released a statement calling for the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
2. Unrig our democracy by abolishing the filibuster – leans support
   1. When asked about discussing filibuster changes with her Senate peers, Harris said “I’m not going to negotiate this way. But I’m certainly having conversations with folks.”

J.D. Vance

1. Protect and expand access to the ballot and restore the Voting Rights Act, including by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – opposes
   1. About January 6, he said in a 2022 interview “If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” Vance said. “That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020.”
   2. Vance has spoken out against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act as an attempt to “rig” elections.
   3. The Republican Party platform includes the priority: “SECURE OUR ELECTIONS, INCLUDING SAME DAY VOTING, VOTER IDENTIFICATION, PAPER BALLOTS, AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP”
2. Unrig our democracy by abolishing the filibuster – opposes
   1. Vance has spoken out against calls to abolish the filibuster.