The CHAMPIONED rating holds. As Governor, Walz did not merely support this policy — he led it: universal free school meals was a signature budget priority he signed into law on March 17, 2023 (House File 5 / Free School Meals for Kids), at a public ceremony at Webster Elementary, providing free breakfast and lunch to every Minnesota K-12 student regardless of income, with the state reimbursing costs beyond federal funding. That is genuine executive leadership (budget-priority sponsorship + enactment + sustained advocacy), not a single vote, satisfying the CHAMPIONED bar. He framed it exactly as the promise describes: "As a former teacher, I know that providing free breakfast and lunch for our students is one of the best investments we can make to lower costs, support Minnesota's working families, and care for our young learners and the future of our state." The rating's quoted fragment is a verbatim substring of that statement — not fabricated. Verification note: the primary mn.gov press release could not be fetched directly (blocked by a PerfDrive/ShieldSquare bot-detection redirect), but its title and the exact quote were independently confirmed via web search, and the CBS News source (reachable) fully corroborates the signing, the universal K-12 scope, and the "one of the best investments we can make" framing, with MPR News (reachable) confirming the signing headline. The outcome does not overstate the evidence.