DULUTH, Minn. - The Republican Party chair of a rural county in central Minnesota is blasting the prevalent media narrative that Gov. Tim Walz is a "moderate" and tells Fox News Digital that rural voters across the country are being "bamboozled" by that talking point.

"I do have a message for most of our rural people here and anybody else that may be watching this, please, you're getting hoodwinked," Lowell Smith, a state college educator and chair of the Crow Wing County GOP in Brainerd, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital. 

"You're getting bamboozled. He's lying to you. He is not for rural America. He only cares about very liberal policies that would be embraced by the elite. He's not for us. He's basically. You can't remember who said it, but he really is. Bernie Sanders and flannel. They're trying to market him as not being that. But he's a liberal just dressed in flannel. He's against the Second Amendment. He's not for rural America."

Smith continued, "Governor Walz’s values do not align with much of rural Minnesota at all, or for much of rural America. He kind of originally ran to try and be a moderate, but every policy he has taken, everything that he has done since being elected has been ultra liberal and nothing has reflected that he's a moderate at all, so it made perfect sense that Kamala Harris picked him to be her running mate."

Smith told Fox News Digital that when he speaks to rural voters in Minnesota, "everybody’s really angry" about Walz "letting the state burn for about four days" during the George Floyd riots in 2020 that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

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Additionally, Smith pointed to the tax policy and business climate under Walz in Minnesota and said that Democrats in control of the state have "squandered" a $17 billion surplus under Walz’s leadership.

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index for 2024, which was published in October 2023, ranked Minnesota as having the 44th best tax climate for businesses in the country.

An analysis published by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in January found that Minnesota's tax code was the most progressive of all 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a more progressive tax code.

"In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make," Walz told a Philadelphia crowd about abortion during his introduction as Vice President Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick. "Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business."

Smith told Fox News Digital that rural voters in Minnesota take issue with that claim given Walz’s record on COVID, which he has been widely criticized for by Republicans.

"His policies did not reflect that at all," Smith said. "He set up a tip line to where, basically, you could snitch off your neighbor if they were not wearing their mask, or they kept their business open and there would be civil fines attached to that." 

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"So that was kind of reminiscent for up here back in communism when you had family members spying on family members and that is not what us in rural Minnesota really believe in."

Smith told Fox News Digital that residents in his county colloquially refer to Walz as "Tampon Tim" due to his policies on transgender issues, including allowing menstrual products to be placed in school bathrooms across the country, including boys' bathrooms. Democrats have pushed back against that line of attack, but Smith says that Walz has essentially made Minnesota a "sanctuary state" for transgender issues.

"Embracing that transgender ideology, so much so that he's made Minnesota a sanctuary state to where if you're a minor in Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and your parents do not agree with you, you can drive into Minnesota, then at that point, for lack of a better term, Minnesota can take possession of you and allow you to get that transgender surgery or health care without your parents consent or even knowledge," Smith said. "Even in Minnesota, if your child is gender confused, the state may step in and take your child and allow health care directives to be directed toward your child against the parent's wishes. This just does not sit well with us up here."

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Smith told Fox News Digital that residents around Brainerd are so fed up with Walz’s policies that a local business along Highway 10 in Royalton, Minnesota, put up a sign seen by thousands of motorists showing Walz with his head inserted in his rear end that reads, "Gov. Walz, Northern MN is trying to see things from your point of view. Sponsored by Rocks & Cows of the North."

The "Rocks & Cows" refers to a comment made by Walz in 2017 about rural America that the Trump campaign has seized on, but some say was taken out of context.

Fox News Digital asked Smith what issues rural voters in his county tell him they are most concerned about in the November election.

"The top three issues that we hear first and foremost is our budget nationally as far as our money," Smith explained.  "We want to ensure that we have a strong economy and that does not look to be going that well. The next thing will be control of crime. Crime is rampant through most of the democratically controlled areas and people want to be safe in their neighborhoods and in their homes."

"Lastly would be the control of the border, which would be the massive flood or what we hear up here, as they call it, an invasion from other countries into our country every week. Those are the three things that I hear most, from the people in our county."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris Walz campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s longshot bid for president has become even more unlikely after a judge ruled on Monday that his name should not appear on New York’s ballot after he falsely claimed a residence in the state on nominating petitions, despite living in California.

New York Justice Christina L. Ryba concluded in a 34-page decision that the rented bedroom Kennedy, 70, claimed as his residence in the state wasn’t a "bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a ‘sham’ address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration" and furthering his political candidacy.

Ryba wrote in the decision that Kennedy’s designation of 84 Croton Lake Road in Westchester County as his place of residence "was a false statement requiring invalidation of the petition."

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"Using a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law," the judge wrote. "To hold otherwise would establish a dangerous precedent and open the door to the fraud and political mischief that the Election Law residency rules were designed to prevent."

If the judge’s decision is upheld, it would keep Kennedy off the ballot in New York but could also lead to challenges in other states where he used an address in New York City’s suburbs to gather signatures. On Friday, Kennedy told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that he had enough signatures to appear on the ballot in all 50 states.

The scion of the famed Democratic political dynasty vowed to appeal, dismissing the ruling as partisan. The lawsuit was backed by Clear Choice Action, a Democrat-aligned political action committee on behalf of several voters in the state.

"The Democrats are showing contempt for democracy," Kennedy said in a statement, noting the ruling judge is a Democrat. "They aren’t confident they can win at the ballot box, so they are trying to stop voters from having a choice. We will appeal and we will win."

"This case is an assault on New York voters who signed in record numbers to place me on their ballot," Kennedy wrote on X." The DNC has become a party that uses lawfare in place of the democratic election process."

Barbara Moss, who rents the room to Kennedy, testified that he pays her $500 a month but she acknowledged there is no written lease and that Kennedy’s first payment wasn’t made until after the New York Post published a story casting doubt on Kennedy’s claim that he lived at that address.

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The judge wrote it was "highly improbable, if not preposterous" that Kennedy may return to that bedroom to reside with his wife, family members, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings to be," the judge wrote.

Ryba said evidence submitted in trial showed Kennedy had a "long-standing pattern" of borrowing addresses from friends and relatives so he could maintain his voter registration in New York state while actually residing in California, where he has a home with his wife, actor Cheryl Hines.

A survey conducted by Ipsos this week found Kennedy is polling around 5% among voters in seven swing states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.

Clear Choice Action said the ruling shows Kennedy intentionally misled election officials and betrayed voters’ trust.

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"The Kennedy team will undoubtedly file desperate lawsuit after desperate lawsuit in the coming days and weeks; they will fail, and it will not change the simple truth: he lied, and he’s being held accountable," the organization said.

The last substantive independent bid for president was launched in 1992 by populist Texas industrialist Ross Perot, whose strong showing led critics to claim his closer proximity ideologically to losing incumbent President George H.W. Bush led to former Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton's upset win.

Segregationist former Alabama Democratic Gov. George Wallace, running as an American Independent in 1968, and Republican-turned-Progressive ex-President Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 round out the last trio of substantive third-party candidates in the modern era.

Fox News’ Charles Creitz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.