How Tim Walz’s Time in the House Paved the Way for His Ascent

Representative Tim Walz was traveling across his conservative, rural district in 2014, holding town halls across southern Minnesota, when a voter confronted him with a prickly question about his support for the Affordable Care Act.

President Barack Obama’s signature legislation was supposed to save families thousands of dollars in health care premiums but still proved costly for some, the voter said. “What happened?” the man demanded.

Some Democrats in politically vulnerable swing seats like Mr. Walz’s who had supported the bill tried to backpedal from their vote, a choice that voters punished them for at the ballot box later that year.

Not Mr. Walz.

Instead, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who shared the stage with Mr. Walz, recalled in an interview that he stood by his decision. “He didn’t try to hide from the vote,” she said. “He leaned into it.”

Mr. Walz acknowledged there was still work to be done on health care but defended the law to the crowd. “Don’t pretend that there was some type of safe harbor before this where everything was just peachy keen,” he said.