How Tim Walz made Minnesota a 'roadmap' for progressive economic policy

• Minnesota has become a prime testing ground for a host of progressive policies and social safety nets, many of which Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed as part of her economic policy platform against Donald Trump.
• The home state of Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota has achieved its fast-paced progressive policy sweep through a combination of a Democratic governing trifecta, a budget surplus and internal party unity.
• Since 2022, Minnesota has invested $2 billion in affordable housing development, passed universal paid family and medical leave, raised corporate interest rates, expanded union bargaining protections, boosted child care subsidies and more.

To understand the economic vision of the Harris-Walz presidential ticket, Minnesotans say just look at the North Star State.

"I've heard some of the things that have been talked about on the ticket," Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham told CNBC in an interview. "They are kind of a reflection of what's happening here."

Under its Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota has expanded union protections, approved over $1 billion in housing resources, enacted universal paid family and medical leave, funded free school lunches, hiked corporate taxes and more.

Taken together, they make Minnesota a kind of proving ground for progressive policies that have faced opposition at the federal level.

Now, with Walz on the ticket as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, the Minnesota playbook is drawing national attention.

"It's a roadmap for sure," Amy Koch, a Republican strategist who formerly served as a Minnesota state senator, told CNBC.

Already, several of the economic priorities of the Harris campaign mirror policies that were championed by Walz in