Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stated that Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign’s choice to forgo an appearance on Joe Rogan’s widely followed podcast likely had little effect on the election outcome.
Speaking at a town hall meeting on Tuesday night, Walz addressed questions from fellow Democrats regarding proposed social program cuts and the 2024 election. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, he was specifically asked about the campaign’s decision to decline an invitation to The Joe Rogan Experience.
“I don’t think we would have won the election if we’d gone on Joe Rogan,” he said. “But I don’t think we would’ve got beat any worse.”
Reflecting on his and Harris’ defeat, Walz suggested that the campaign failed to offer enough change to persuade voters to back the Democratic ticket.
The Harris-Walz campaign’s relationship with The Joe Rogan Experience has been a topic of debate and media coverage both before and after the 2024 election.
Last month, multiple outlets published an excerpt from FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. According to the book, the Harris campaign attempted to arrange an appearance for the former vice president on Rogan’s show but claimed that Rogan’s team created obstacles that made it impossible.
Days after the excerpt’s release, Rogan pushed back against those claims on his podcast, arguing that the Harris campaign was merely trying to justify its misstep.
“They never said she was gonna do it. So this whole idea that we (expletive) her over for Trump is incorrect, just not true,” Rogan said. “I think it’s someone trying to cover their (expletive) for the fact that she never did it.”
During the same period when the Harris campaign was in discussions with Rogan’s team about a potential appearance, now-President Donald Trump appeared on the podcast and later received Rogan’s endorsement.
“Trump was really easy to book, super easy, we offered one day, he said yes, that was it,” Rogan said in the same episode.
