How Tim Walz Worked With Faith and Justice Organizers in Minnesota [Video]

As Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz continue to campaign across the country, pastors and organizers in Minnesota are reflecting on their work with the governor, saying that he has displayed an authentic willingness to collaborate with faith and community leaders over his tenure.

Billy Charvez Russell is the senior pastor of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, a historically Black church in Minneapolis. When Walz took office in 2019, Charvez Russell began working with Walz’s administration, joining a faith outreach group the governor’s administration operated. The following summer, when a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd sparking nationwide racial justice protests, Charvez Russell said Walz was able to draw on his existing relationships with local faith communities to encourage Minnesotans to protest peacefully.

“They created spaces where we were able to share different concerns and things that were going on, on the ground,” Charvez Russell said. “We …