Analysis: A crack in Minnesota’s bipartisan wall against the pandemic

Gov. Tim Walz has done what would have been unimaginable just a month ago. He’s forced Minnesotans to postpone weddings and graduations. He’s shut down favorite watering holes and restaurants. He’s decided who can go to work, and even the acceptable reasons for leaving home.

The pain — more than 350,000 Minnesotans have already applied for unemployment insurance — has been horrid for many. No amount of state or federal help will replace a business destroyed, a job lost, or a month gone by without seeing grandchildren.

But Walz’s drastic policies have worked, at least compared to the rest of the nation. Minnesota currently has fewer COVID-19 cases per capita than any state in the country.

One advantage Walz has had during the crisis: The first term DFL governor has been buttressed by support from Republican lawmakers.

No longer.

When Walz extended his stay-at-home order Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, thanked Walz for allowing a few more industries to come back to work, like landscaping and nurseries.

But on Thursday Gazelka reversed course. “I do not approve of the governor’s unilateral decision to continue the order to shelter at home until May 4th. We have to get on with our lives,” he tweeted.

In his new opposition to Walz’s pandemic policies, Gazelka joined Sens. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, and Scott Jensen, R-Chaska, who wrote in a Star Tribune commentary recently that it is time for more Minnesotans to be allowed to return to work.

For weeks, Republicans have risked political heat to support Walz’s policies even as the restive base of President Donald Trump has shouted from the rooftops of social media and talk radio that the risk of COVID-19 is overblown, the policies draconian — and maybe a sinister attempt to sabotage the president.

After Walz announced the new order, the proudly red hatted Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, tweeted in defiance, “I’m not staying home.”

During his daily press call Thursday, Walz shot back, if in a Minnesota nice way: “If they believe the Mayo Clinic, the health care associations, and the CDC are wrong, then I value their opinion to say so,” he said. “But I’m gonna listen to the experts.”

Walz continues to have the support of his DFL base.

“It has been great having the strong, smart leadership of Gov. Walz and Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan as we navigate our way forward through this crisis and work to make sure those caring for us are getting cared for too,” said Jamie Gulley, President of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, in a statement.

The state’s biggest companies, represented by the Minnesota Business Partnership, also remain supportive.

Charlie Weaver, the executive director of a group that includes 3M and Target, said earlier this week: “The governor has been a terrific leader for this moment.”

But Walz can no longer count on support of Republican lawmakers as he makes already difficult choices.

The political polarization that grips the nation — even on questions that should be ostensibly scientific — has infected Minnesota.

It may not be deadly like COVID-19 can be, but it is virulent just the same.