Tim Walz is abandoning Minnesota’s re-election campaign amid state fraud scandals
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is ending his bid for a third term, less than four months after announcing his re-election campaign.
Walz, who was part of the Democratic presidential ticket of the United States last year as a candidate for Kamala Harris, said in a statement on Monday that he will no longer be able to use the power necessary to win another term, as he expressed confidence that he can win.
He cited the continued focus on fraud cases and described “an incredibly difficult year for our nation,” while noting the accomplishments of his first seven years in office.
U.S. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have focused relentlessly on the investigation into child care fraud in Minnesota in social media posts and interviews on right-wing cable news shows.
The Trump administration announced last week that it was freezing child care funding in Minnesota and calling for an audit of other child care facilities after a series of fraud cases involving state government programs in recent years.
“Donald Trump and his allies — in Washington, St. Paul and on the Internet — want to make our country a cold, low place,” Walz said, referring to the Trump administration’s withholding of funds for programs.
“They want to poison our people by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away a lot of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”
The bitterness between Trump and Walz continued long after the 2024 campaign.
After former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in June, part of the violence in which the suspect was also charged in the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife on the same day, Trump refused to call Walz to express condolences on behalf of the White House, saying “it would be a waste of time.”
On Saturday, Trump shared a social media post on Truth Social alleging a conspiracy theory implicating Walz in Hortman’s death. Both Walz and Hortman’s children criticized the post and urged him to take it down.
“Dangerous, depraved behavior from the president of the United States,” Walz said in his own social media response. “In defense of a real killer, he will kill innocent people.”
From high school to politics
Harris chose Walz as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, citing his diverse background in representing working families.
Walz, who grew up in the small town of West Point, Neb., was a social studies teacher and high school football coach before entering politics. He also served in the US National Guard for 24 years.
Walz turned a Republican seat in rural Minnesota in 2006 to represent the state in the US Congress. He is considered a moderate Democrat who supports gun rights and was elected to the House of Representatives six times before leaving to run for governor in 2018.
During that campaign, Walz was warmly received by Democratic voters because of his good looks, and his attacks on Trump and his colleague, JD Vance – “These guys are weird” – spread widely. But he drew mixed reviews for his one-on-one debate against Vance.
Protecting the Somali community from Trump’s attacks
In nearly two terms as governor, Walz navigated a deeply divided legislature. In his first term, he worked closely with the Democratic-led House and the Republican-controlled Senate against his proposals to use higher taxes to raise money for schools, health care and roads. But he helped compromise the seller.
After the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Walz called for silence but also stood out as a white political leader who expressed empathy for black Americans and their experience of police violence.
In his second term, Walz worked with the Democratic majority in both chambers of the legislature to organize liberal studies in state government, aided by a large budget.
Minnesota repealed nearly all of the state’s abortion restrictions passed in the past by Republicans, protected sexual health care for transgender youth and legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Walz and other Democrats also introduced free school meals for all students and a medical leave program that went live on Jan. 1.
But it has been plagued by a $300 million food fraud scandal in the US surrounding the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future, in which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted.
Most of those accused were Somali-Americans, but Walz and other Democrats have criticized Trump and his allies for statements that seem to blame everyone in the diaspora for the actions of a large number of people.
The attack on immigrants in Minnesota is being met with organized opposition from people angry about Donald Trump’s anti-Somalia rhetoric in America. Nationally, CBC’s Katie Nicholson goes to Minneapolis and finds a community coming together to try to protect their neighbors.
Minneapolis-St. Paul County is home to about 84,000 residents of Somali descent, and the Trump administration’s efforts to deport unauthorized U.S. citizens have included operations in the state.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, another Minnesotan, said Monday that Walz “entered public life for the right reasons and has never forgotten.”
At the Republican Governors Association, spokeswoman Courtney Alexander criticized Walz for “failed leadership” and said the Democratic nominee “will have to defend years of mismanagement and misaligned priorities.”
About a dozen Republicans are already running in the party’s primary to decide the gubernatorial nominee. The list includes dozens of current and former lawmakers, as well as MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell, who is denying the 2020 election and is close to Trump.
36 states have already held gubernatorial elections in 2026, the year of the midterm elections.
