Lisa Hanson, a former wine and coffee bistro owner who was thrown in jail for ignoring Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s lockdown orders, told Fox News Digital that the now Democratic vice presidential candidate essentially “closed and destroyed” her small business and warned Americans, “You don’t want tyranny on this level.”
Hanson, a mother of eight children and soon-to-be 18 grandchildren, said aside from a speeding ticket she received as a teenager, she has always been a law-abiding citizen and has owned businesses with her husband for more than 30 years. When the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing in 2020, Hanson said the Interchange Wine & Coffee Bistro in Albert Lea, about 90 miles south of Minneapolis, had been open for eight years.
Her wine and coffee bistro initially complied with the March shutdown order, but Hanson said she watched for months afterward as Walz never fully reopened the state when it came to businesses deemed nonessential, such as bars, restaurants, gyms, dance studios and hair salons. In contrast, the governor never closed liquor stores, the big box stores or even strip clubs.
“He closed a lot of mom-and-pop shops, the people who were just trying to make a living and provide a great product and service,” Hanson told Fox News Digital. “In contrast, he allowed major supermarkets, etc. to stay open. Really unbelievable, an unbelievable use of tyranny against the people.”
Hanson eventually decided to reopen her business and defied Walz’s renewed closure order for bars and restaurants six times between December 2020 and January 2021.
She was convicted of a misdemeanor in December 2021 and received the maximum sentence of 90 days and a $1,000 fine. Hanson ultimately served two-thirds of her sentence, 60 days.
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“That’s the story America needs to hear, that Tim Walz is not a cuddly, happy-go-lucky coach like the mainstream media keeps making him out to be,” Hanson told Fox News Digital. “That’s not what this man is. This man would gladly take away your rights. He will take away your rights. Because what happened to me could have happened to anyone. What happened to me will happen to you.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally in Detroit on August 7, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz are campaigning across the country this week. (Andrew Harnik)
“My family paid a heavy price. While I was in prison, I missed Christmas with my family, I missed my wedding anniversary and I also missed the birth of one of my grandchildren,” Hanson said. “I can never get that time back. That time was stolen from me. My business was destroyed. My business is gone. After everything that happened, Tim Walz and Keith Ellison destroyed my business. They ruined my life.”
“I’ve heard some people say Tim Walz is a really nice guy. He’s not. Believe me,” Hanson said. “Throughout the process, I’ve met other people. Similar things have happened to them trying to run their businesses and survive. Mostly women, by the way. So Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison really like to go after women. They’re bullies.”
“They’re tyrants. And they like to go after women and torture and destroy their lives. That’s what they did in the state of Minnesota. So let America know that you don’t want Tim Walz as vice president. You don’t want tyranny on that level,” she continued. “I’ve seen it firsthand. We, the people of Minnesota, have seen the evil that Tim Walz will do if he’s elected vice president of this country. He’s going to bring the same kind of evil on the American people in lockstep with Harris, who is also evil. We don’t want that. So that’s the truth about Tim Walz.”
“I want Tim Walz indicted. I want him prosecuted for the crimes he committed against the people of Minnesota,” Hanson said.
When Walz issued an executive order in November 2020 that again shut down 100% indoor and outdoor dining at bars and restaurants in the state, Hanson joined a group of nearly 200 business owners called Open Minnesota, saying the governor, who is backed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, was acting “in a criminal manner outside the law.”
“We had God-given, constitutionally protected rights to be open. There was no law. There was no law that allowed Governor Walz to do what he did. He really exceeded the legal requirements. But more importantly, the constitutional requirements,” Hanson said. “Because we have the right to conduct our businesses and live our lives as we see fit, of course within the rule of law.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz during a campaign rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on August 10, 2024. (RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
“We have a corrupt government that is coming against us and saying, ‘You have no right to run your business,'” she said. “This is not a republic. This is not how a republic behaves. This is a dictatorship.”
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Hanson described the moment she learned that Walz had been chosen as Kamala Harris’s vice presidential running mate.
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“Frankly, my opinion shouldn’t have surprised me. But based on what I know about Tim Walz, based on what a tyrant he is. He has destroyed so many lives in the state of Minnesota. He’s not done destroying lives. He will continue to destroy lives,” Hanson said. “I don’t use the word ‘evil’ lightly. But given that he is an evil person, it’s no wonder Harris chose him as her running mate,” Hanson said.
“Tim Walz has done a lot of terrible things in the state of Minnesota in a very short period of time,” she said.
Referring to the massive unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Hanson asked, “Where was our governor? Where was our governor when there was looting and fires? Another business owner – whose businesses were burned down. Where was our governor?”
“I haven’t been to Minneapolis since the incident,” Hanson told Fox News Digital. “I don’t need to go there. I’ve seen what Tim Walz allowed to happen in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Minnesota. That man is a machine of destruction. He needs to be stopped.”
Governor Tim Walz, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Tina Smith met with business owners whose stores were looted and destroyed. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Within 24 to 48 hours of reopening her wine and coffee bistro in December 2020, Hanson said “the state came at us with a vengeance,” sent the health department after her business and ultimately filed about a half-dozen civil and criminal cases against her. During her trial, Hanson claimed she was denied due process and accused “renegade judges,” the attorney general and Walz of moving in “lockstep.”
“They used all of their resources against us, the people, just to run a business and serve a cup of coffee to a willing customer. And they said, ‘No, you can’t do that,'” Hanson said. “And mind you, there was never an injury. There was never an infection with COVID-19, nor was there ever a death because my doors were open and willing customers came in to buy from me.”
Hanson had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines and was eventually forced to close her business due to enormous pressure from the government.
“What happened to me wasn’t an accident, and they were just trying to make an example of me, right?” Hanson said. “It was like I was literally living a nightmare.”
Hanson, who voted for former President Trump in 2016 and 2020, said she is not convinced she will support the Republican candidate in the 2024 election, citing her knowledge of Operation Warp Speed and Trump’s credit for developing the COVID-19 vaccine. While she would absolutely not support the Harris-Waltz ticket, Hanson spoke out against the two-party system overall.
“Donald Trump is not going to save America. We know for sure that Biden is not going to save America, and Harris is not going to save America. People have to get involved,” Hanson said.
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Hanson, who ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 2022, encouraged citizens, especially parents, to get involved in the school system and local government.
“Electing Donald Trump is not the right way to go, in my opinion. For so many reasons,” Hanson said. “We need to change the two-party system. Otherwise we’re just heading for big words: socialism, communism. And I know a lot of people who would say we’re already there, just not fully developed yet.”
