MN gov. candidates asked to say 1 nice thing about each other. Here's what they said
MINNEAPOLIS -- Gov. Tim Walz and Dr. Scott Jensen faced off in their first and only televised debate Tuesday night, clashing on issues from abortion to education.
Not every question was as weighty though. Both were also asked to each give a quick, 30-second answer to the question: "What is one nice thing you can say about your opponent?"
"I've thought about this question," Jensen said before pausing. "I think Tim Walz is an affable individual ... who has a wonderful smile."
"I think Scott has shown a great affinity, I see, as he talks about his family, talks about how important that is to him. I think that is always a pretty good indicator of where someone's heart is at. I myself always appreciate that, when someone puts their family first," Walz said.
The debate came three weeks before Election Day as early voting is already underway. Walz, a Democrat, leads GOP challenger Jensen in the latest MinnPost poll by five percentage points.
One of the more tense moments was about the 2020 riots after George Floyd's murder. Jensen criticized Walz's leadership during that time while Walz defended his actions during an unprecedented time.
"Tim Walz should've been using the bully pulpit to go down and help and be with the people, calm the people. We should not have had TV analysts, TV journalists saying, 'Where is our governor?' This was arguably the biggest crisis we've experienced in my lifetime and Tim Walz was absent," Jensen said.
"There has been several occasions from Derek Chauvin's trial to the murder of Daunte Wright where the potential for this to happen again was there, and it did not because of the lessons learned," Walz said.