Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is continuing a controversial national town hall tour that he kicked off last week amid reports that Republican lawmakers were nixing in-person town hall meetings.

Walz made his first stops this weekend — in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, March 14, and in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday. Walz’s team told Forum News Service that he plans to stop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Tuesday and that stops in Ohio and Minnesota are in the works.

“People want to make their voices heard, but their congressmen are hiding in Washington and refusing to do town halls,” Walz wrote on X on March 13 when he launched his town hall tour. “I’m going to join Democrats across the country to show up where Republicans aren’t.”

Politico reported on March 4 that Congressman Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Republican lawmakers behind closed doors to stop conducting in-person town hall meetings with constituents. Politico cited three anonymous sources in its article.

The tour from Walz has been met with frustration from Minnesota Republicans. At an unrelated press conference Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson referred to Walz’s tour as “campaigning.”

“We have problems here in the state, and for him to be running away from those problems is really discouraging,” Johnson said. “There’s plenty of time this summer to go do that, but right now, we need everybody here, all hands on deck.”

Johnson’s concerns were echoed by House Republicans last week following the announcement of the tour. Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, joked that he’s “a little worried we might have to go to Iowa and Nebraska” to work with Walz.

Leader Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, said on Monday that Walz is doing “important work” on the tour, specifically in regard to proposed Medicaid cuts from the U.S. House’s budget proposals.

“The work that Governor Walz is doing could directly benefit Minnesota by trying to put pressure on Republicans across the country to not move forward with these really damaging cuts,” Long said. “There’s plenty of time for us to do the work of the people back here with budget negotiations. The governor has had his budget out for several weeks and I think it’s the House GOP’s turn to put their proposal out.”

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