Walz calls it a “damned lie” that he is financed by the unions

Tim Walz boasted at a Labor Day rally during the presidential campaign about the “damn lie” that he was “funded by the unions.”

The Democratic candidate for vice president spoke to those present at the Labor Festival in Milwaukee yesterday and responded with a pointed answer to a demand made by some Republicans.

“During one of my campaigns, Republicans came up to me and said, 'Tim is in the pocket of the unions,'” he said.

“I said, 'That's a damn lie – I'm the wallet.'”

Amid cheers from the crowd, the former teacher continued: “And I told them: If you want to attack me because I stand for collective bargaining, fair wages, safe working conditions, health care and pensions, then roll the damn dice, I'll try my luck.”

Walz – the first union candidate on the presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan ran as a Republican in the 1980 election – told the crowds at Laborfest that the Harris-Walz ticket would best represent the interests of union members.

Walz and his wife Gwen had also met with local union leaders and officials earlier that day.

The couple met in the 1990s when they both taught at a school in Nebraska and were members of the Education Minnesota union.

It was something of a blitz by the Democratic presidential candidates on Labor Day.

While Walz was in Wisconsin, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff appeared in Michigan, where she spoke to union workers in Detroit before traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to hold a joint campaign rally with President Joe Biden.

In contrast, Harris' campaign accused Donald Trump of “avoiding work on Labor Day” after the Republican candidate's campaign limited himself to calling in a single virtual event.

Walz had already sharply criticized Trump's union record in a speech to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Los Angeles last month.

There, the vice presidential candidate criticized Trump's record and pointed to Harris' past as a former fast-food worker. He promised that the Democrats would implement the worker-friendly agenda that has made his state of Minnesota one of the best places to work in the rest of the country.

“You know, Vice President Harris grew up in a middle-class family and worked at McDonald's as a student. I keep asking this to make a comparison here: Can you just imagine Donald Trump working at McDonald's and trying to make a McFlurry or something like that?” he said.

Trump, he added, “couldn’t even run that damn McFlurry machine if it cost him anything!”

Walz told conference attendees that he and Harris credited unions and unionized teachers, nurses, and state and local officials with building the American middle class, and boasted about how he and the vice president had joined the picket lines of striking workers.

In his latest personal attack on Harris, however, Trump baselessly accused his rival of “lying” about her work at McDonald's.