Minnesota Governor Walz Backs Protesters with "Good Trouble

When protesters gathered outside the Minnesota Governor's mansion in the January cold, they got something unexpected: the governor himself walking out to join them.

Tim Walz and his wife Gwen stepped through their gate on January 20, the governor in a red flannel and beanie, to speak directly with constituents who showed up to support their neighbors. He borrowed someone's megaphone and thanked the bundled crowd for standing in the freezing weather.

"Thank you for standing up for our neighbors who don't have a fence and who don't have people to take them around and don't have lawyers to defend them," Walz told the cheering crowd. The gathering was part of broader community action across Minnesota, where neighbors are organizing food drives, fundraisers, and mutual aid networks to support one another.

Walz shared a powerful story from his time in Congress, recalling conversations with Chinese political prisoners who told him that speaking up mattered even when it was hard. "If you don't speak up, they will torture us and forget about us," he remembered them saying.

The governor invoked civil rights leader John Lewis, with whom he spent significant time learning about nonviolent resistance. "We're not telling people to be silent, but we're not telling people to go out and cause problems," Walz said. "We're going to cause good trouble."

That phrase, "good trouble," was Lewis's famous call to peaceful yet powerful protest against injustice. Walz encouraged Minnesotans to bring their characteristic grit, humor, and decency to their activism.

Why This Inspires

In an era when many feel powerless, this moment captures something essential about democracy: leaders listening and communities mobilizing together. Walz didn't hide behind official statements or closed doors. He walked outside, stood in the cold, and spoke person to person with people showing up for their neighbors.

The broader movement across Minnesota shows community resilience at its finest, with ordinary people organizing strikes, feeding families, and fundraising for those who need legal help. It's neighbor helping neighbor, scaled up through collective action.

"You know what's right. You know what your neighbors are going through," Walz reminded the crowd. Sometimes the most hopeful thing a leader can do is acknowledge that the people already know the answer.