Tampon Tim

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Part of a series on Tim Walz. [View Related Entries]

About

Tampon Tim is a nickname for Kamala Harris's Vice President pick Tim Walz, popularized by the Donald Trump campaign and conservatives online in early August 2024, ahead of the upcoming Presidential Election. In 2023, Tim Walz signed a bill to make menstrual products like pads and tampons freely available for school-going kids in Minnesota. Republicans launched an informal campaign calling, Tim Walz "Tampon Tim" after taking issue with menstrual products being stocked in all restrooms irrespective of gender.

Origin

On August 6th, 2024, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, spoke about Tim Walz on Fox News,^[1] calling him "a threat to women’s health." Leavitt continued:

As a woman, I think there is no greater threat to our health than leaders who support gender-transition surgeries for young minors, who support putting tampons in men’s bathrooms in public schools. Those are radical policies that Tim Walz supports. He actually signed a bill to do that.

Spread

On August 6th, 2024, @LibsofTikTok founder Chaya Raichik ^[2] posted an image of a box of tampons edited to show Tim Walz's face. The post was captioned with the hashtag "#TamponTim" and gathered over 27,000 likes in a day (seen below, left).

Also on August 6th, the X^[3] account of the satirical news site The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) posted about Tim Walz signing a bill to "put tampons in boys' school bathrooms," gathering over 50,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).

Political commentator and X user Ian Miles Cheong posted a "Tampon Tim" edit to X^[4] on August 6th as well, gathering over 1,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). Also on August 6th, X user @Catturd2 posted^[5] the hashtag #TamponTim, gathering over 18,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).

Backlash and Criticism

Various internet users and media outlets reported on how "Tampon Tim" was a short-lived and failing attempt to criticize Harris's VP pick. In early August 2024, the New York Times^[6] covered the story with the headline, "Trump Campaign Criticizes Walz for State Law Providing Tampons in Schools," while Rolling Stone^[7] wrote, "Republicans Are Struggling to Paint Tim Walz as a Villain."

On August 6th, 2024, various progressive internet users defended Walz and his decision to sign a bill that provides free menstrual products to all schoolchildren. X^[8]^[9] users @CWJediMaster and @MrsEricaGarza made posts on August 6th that gathered over 15,000 likes each (seen below).