What Tim Walz Had To Say About Kamala Harris' Joe Rogan Podcast Drama

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Tim Walz had some things to say about Kamala Harris' loss to Donald Trump, but regretting to go on a particular podcast isn't one of them. One successful campaign tactic Trump employed, upon the suggestion of his youngest son, Barron Trump, was throwing on a pair of headphones and sitting with one of the most popular podcasters in history, Joe Rogan. Though as of writing, he's been booted to the #2 spot on the Spotify Podcast Charts, Rogan was the platform's top podcaster when Trump appeared on "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2024. Could that be the reason Harris ultimately lost the election to the Republican politician? Walz doesn't think so. 

"I don't think we would have won if we'd gone on Joe Rogan, but we probably wouldn't have gotten beat any worse," he said while answering questions at a March 2025 town hall meeting in a Wisconsin battleground district, per The Minnesota Star Tribune. Rather, Walz believes that he wasn't able to convince the working-class voters to support the Democratic ticket, and that's where they went wrong. 

Harris and Rogan's circles have been in a he said/she said debate on whether the former vice president was supposed to appear on the show in 2024. According to an excerpt from Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes' book "Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House," Harris' campaign and Rogan's podcast team reportedly couldn't agree on the details while attempting to lock down a podcast interview — which "Fight" claims was a way Harris hoped to tap into Rogan's young, male viewership, per Newsweek. 

Joe Rogan clapped back at some of the claims in "Fight" in a February 2025 episode of his show, taking issue with how he and his team were portrayed in the book. He said there were disagreements between the groups while trying to plan, but some of the book's details were fabricated and that he was open arms for an interview with Kamala Harris. Rogan also felt like his podcast could've been good for Harris' campaign, adding, "If her and I had a good time, and we got along great, and she won over the air-quote 'young male vote,' things could've been different, who knows." 

In March 2025, Tim Walz went on the "This is Gavin Newsom" podcast and claimed that deep-seated misogyny about whether he was too "weak" overshadowed his appeal as a vice presidential candidate. "I think I scare them a little bit, [which is] why they spend so much time on me," he said, seemingly referring to conservative-leaning male voters, adding, "because I can fix a truck, they know I'm not bulls***ing on this."

Rogan responded to Walz in a March 21, 2025 episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," saying mockingly, "'I know how to fix a truck.' That's what he said, I'm like, do you? I bet you don't." He and guest Chris Williamson proceeded to make fun of the idea that Walz was the symbol of masculinity for the Democrats — proving Walz's point to Newsom that he wasn't seen as masculine enough. "I think they're lost," Rogan continued, seemingly alluding to the Democratic party. "I mean, they're also lost in that they can't control the narrative anymore."