Minnesotan commutes out of state for 'right to work' after business closed under Walz's COVID-era rules

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Minnesota resident Lisa Zarza says she commutes out of state for the "right to work"

Minnesotan Lisa Zarza shared with Fox News Digital why she commutes out of state to work after losing businesses under Gov. Tim Walz's COVID rules.

LAKEVILLE, Minn. – A Minnesota resident commutes two hours a day out of state "for the right to work," after blaming Gov. Tim Walz's policies for the loss of her two businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lifelong Minnesotan Lisa Zarza, who has been in the bar and restaurant industry for 32 years, told Fox News Digital that she operates her current business, Outpost Bar and Grill, in Wisconsin after COVID-era rules enforced by Walz forced her out of the state.

"I have to travel two hours a day for the right to work as an American citizen," Zarza said, adding that she hops on her Harley-Davidson motorcycle for the two-hour round-trip commute to work each day. "The beginning was really rough. Every time I crossed the border, I would get kind of choked up, like, this is just unfair."

Zarza previously owned Alibi Bar and Drinkery in Lakeville and Alibi at Froggy Bottoms in Minnesota. In 2020, when Walz ordered bars and restaurants in the state to close as part of an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, Zarza defied his order and refused to shut down for two weeks in order to keep her business afloat. 

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Minnesotan Lisa Zarza spoke with Fox News Digital about why she moved her business to Wisconsin. (Fox News Digital)

After she refused to close her business, the state suspended her food service license, and she was sued by both the attorney general and the Minnesota Department of Health, which she says resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees. 

"On Jan. 10, all bars and restaurants were allowed to reopen. The state of Minnesota refused to issue my food service license, and I operated illegally without a food service license, even though I had never violated any food service code," she said. "They told me that if I did not close, I was going to be arrested or jailed. And eventually, I believe it was in the beginning of April, I closed."

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"When I cross the border, I literally feel like I'm free again," she said. "I flip off the state of Minnesota every time I cross this border and know that I can work in Wisconsin." 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attends a rally in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call)

When she decided to open her business in Wisconsin, where she has worked for two and a half years, Zarza said she faced no roadblocks in obtaining licenses.

Zarza said that when she found out Vice President Kamala Harris selected Walz as her running mate, she rode the whole way home from work "crying, worried about what was going to happen to our country."

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"This isn't what Minnesota is. This isn't who we want in our White House. He's not what we represent as being a patriot," she said. "I think Harris made a big, huge mistake when she picked her running mate."