Michele Tafoya, a new Republican candidate for Senate, told the RCP Podcast Thursday that Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s sanctuary city policies have “local law enforcement’s hands tied,” and it is turning federal immigration enforcement into a “disaster.” She said the killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis was a tragedy that never should have happened. “But how did we get to this place where citizens feel it’s their duty to go put themselves in harm’s way, endangering themselves and law enforcement?” Tafoya asked. “We’ve had Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ginning up this hatred.” “Law enforcement locally cannot help this federal law enforcement effort, so it’s just turned into a disaster-something that could have really been handled professionally and well,” she said. “Tim Walz presented himself as this schoolteacher, assistant coach, nice guy, and ran for Congress out of a conservative area of Minnesota,” she said. “Guess what? He wasn’t, and he isn’t. And everyone bought the story.” “Now he’s had to step down out of his own race because he knows he’s toxic,” she said. “He knows he’s associated with this fraud, and he can’t win.” “So I would just remind people: If they’re going to put in someone from that same party who’s attached to Gov. Walz, you’re getting the same thing,” she said. “You can move the musical chairs, but you’re getting the same thing.”

CARL CANNON, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: What’s going on in Minneapolis now-the shooting of this woman and the riots and ICE’s activities-has it radicalized the people in that state? Has it made it harder for a Republican to get elected statewide in Minnesota? It’s hard enough now. Or is there a backlash against the lawlessness and the extremes, like marching in a church and stuff? How do you see what’s happening now affecting the environment there? MICHELE TAFOYA: Well, let me just start with Renee Good and the shooting of her and her death. It was horrible. It was tragic, and it never should have happened. My heart goes out to everyone who loved her because that was just-this shouldn’t have happened. At the same time, how did we get to this place where citizens feel it’s their duty to go put themselves in harm’s way, endangering themselves and, quite frankly, endangering law enforcement, in order to do this? And you know, we’ve had Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey-and I think the St. Paul mayor now is getting involved as well-ginning up this hatred. They have law enforcement’s hands tied. Law enforcement locally cannot help this federal law enforcement effort, so it’s just turned into a disaster-something that could have really been handled professionally and well. In fact, I’ve talked to leadership in law enforcement here in the Twin Cities, and this is one of the big takeaways I had. One of the gentlemen said to me, You know, we risk life and limb to go out and arrest and detain a criminal and put them in jail, and then they get released, and now somebody else has to go risk life and limb to do it again. It makes no sense. It’s inefficient. It’s wrong. So look, I think this could go either way, and we’ve got a lot of time between now and the primaries and November. But I think there are a lot of people-sure, and we believe there are a lot of paid protesters here too-but there are a lot of people who just want sanity in the Twin Cities and in Minnesota writ large. And so look, this crisis of leadership that we have is pervasive. And it’s everyone from Tim Walz to his lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, who’s also running for Senate, to Angie Craig, the congresswoman who is trying to out-left Peggy Flanagan. So it’s-I think people really want calm. … CARL CANNON: What changed in Minnesota? How did Minnesotans-Minnesota nice was the phrase-how did Minnesota, in terms of government, lose the plot? MICHELE TAFOYA: Wow. I think we can say that about a number of states. I think there are so many deep-seated things that led to this ultimate evolution of our politics. I really do. I think it does go back decades. But when you look at someone like Tim Walz-yeah, I am going to pick on Tim Walz-because he presented himself as this schoolteacher, assistant coach, nice guy-ran for Congress out of a conservative area of Minnesota. Aren’t I nice and aren’t I just wholesome. And guess what? He wasn’t, and he isn’t. And everyone bought the story. And now we know-and he’s had to step down out of his own race because he knows he’s toxic. He knows he’s associated with this fraud. He knows he can’t win. So I would just remind people: if they’re going to put in someone from that same party who’s attached to Gov. Walz, you’re getting the same thing. You can move the musical chairs, do that whole bit-you’re getting the same thing. We’ve got to clean it up. So how we got here is probably a long thread. But now that we are here, what are we going to do? What are we going to do about it? It bothers me that there’s just such a lack of integrity.

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