Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) -- who is now Kamala Harris' pick for vice president -- won reelection in 2022 after defeating Scott Jensen, MD, a family physician who became known for his controversial COVID stances. Jensen, who served as a state senator from 2017 to 2021, had a reputation for being a moderate Republican before the COVID pandemic, .
During the pandemic, he because he had antibodies from a mild infection in August 2020, even to avoid vaccine requirements. He also reportedly called for civil disobedience over masks and promoted unproven treatments such as ivermectin, . Jensen also was " (AFLD), one of the most outspoken groups against COVID public health policies.
Jensen even signed onto a brought by AFLD seeking to . "I've definitely been a [COVID] skeptic, to be sure," Jensen said during the in October 2022, describing what prompted him to become one. He said a doctor told him a patient had died due to a fall, but COVID had been listed as a "contributing condition" on the patient's death certificate.
He reached out to the state's health department as the vice chair of the department of human services committee at the time in search of an explanation, but received no response, Jensen said. "All I got was 3 months later, for the first time in my life, I was being investigated, my medical license," Jensen said during the debate. "That's been five times, but it's never been done because of a healthcare service I provided.
It's because someone didn't like my politics.