Comments Tim Walz’s wife, Gwen Walz, made about the 2020 George Floyd protests are resurfacing. Walz, who was tapped as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on Tuesday, was governor of Minnesota when the demonstrations took place in the state’s capitol. “Again we had more sleepless nights during the riots… I could smell the burning tires, and that was a very real thing. I kept the windows open as long as I could because I felt like that was such a touchstone of what was happening,” Gwen Walz told KTSP in June 2020. According to the New York Post, Tim Walz’s response to the Black Lives Matter protests is being reexamined as he joins the Democratic ticket. The outlet reports that in the summer of 2020, he was castigated for “downplaying the riots.” The New York Times reports that some of this criticism comes from Walz waiting a whole day before signing off on Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s request for the National Guard’s assistance.