Tim Walz drops out of Minnesota 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 on the Democratic ticket for the U.S. presidential election last year as Kamala Harris’ running mate, said in a statement Monday that he could no longer devote the energy needed to win another term, although he expressed confidence in his ability to win.

He cited continued attention to fraud cases and described an “extraordinarily difficult year for our state,” while also highlighting the accomplishments of his first seven years in office.

U.S. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have focused relentlessly on a fraud investigation into Minnesota’s child care programs in social media posts and interviews on right-wing cable news shows.

The Trump administration announced last week that it was freezing funds for Minnesota child care centers and requiring an audit of some child care centers after a series of fraud cases involving state government programs in recent years.

“Donald Trump and his allies — in Washington, in St. Paul and online — want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said, referring to the fact that the Trump administration has withheld funds for the programs.

“They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to rob us of much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”

The bitterness between Trump and Walz continued well into the 2024 campaign.

After former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in June, part of a wave of violence in which a suspect is also accused of shooting 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 who claimed a crazy conspiracy theory implicating Walz in Hortman’s death. Walz and Hortman’s children condemned the post and urged him to remove it.

“Dangerous and depraved behavior from the sitting President of the United States,” Walz said in his own social media post in response. “By covering up a real serial killer, he’s going to get more innocent people killed.”

From high school to politics

Harris chose Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, citing his history through a range of experiences advocating for working families.

Walz, who grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska, was a social studies teacher and high school football coach before entering politics. He also served in the United States National Guard for 24 years.

Walz flipped a Republican seat in Minnesota’s 2006 campaign to represent the state in the U.S. Congress. He was considered a moderate Democrat who supported gun rights and was elected to the House of Representatives six times before running for governor in 2018.

During that campaign, Walz received a warm reception from Democratic voters because of his popular charm, and his line of attack against Trump and his running mate, JD Vance – “These guys are just weird” – became widely known. But he drew mixed reviews for his lone debate against Vance.

Defends the Somali community against Trump’s attacks

During nearly two terms as governor, Walz navigated a closely divided Legislature. During his first term, he served alongside a Democratic-led House and Republican-controlled Senate that resisted his proposals to use higher taxes to increase funding for schools, health care and roads. But he helped negotiate compromises.

After the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Walz pleaded for calm but also stood out as a white political leader who expressed empathy toward Black Americans and their experiences of police violence.

During his second term, Walz worked with Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers to chart a more liberal course in state government, aided by a huge budget surplus.

Minnesota eliminated nearly all state restrictions on abortion passed in the past by Republicans, protected gender-affirming care for transgender youth and legalized recreational marijuana use. Walz and his Democratic colleagues also implemented free school meals for all students as well as a paid family and medical leave program that launched on January 1.

But it was plagued by a $300 million U.S. pandemic food fraud scheme around the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, for which 57 Minnesota defendants were convicted.

Most of those defendants were Somali Americans, but Walz and other Democrats have criticized Trump and his allies. for statements that seemed to accuse the entire diaspora for actions committed by only dozens of people.

The Minneapolis-St. The Paul region is home to about 84,000 residents of Somali descent, and the Trump administration’s efforts to expel unauthorized U.S. residents 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 never lost sight of them.”

At the Republican Governors Association, spokeswoman Courtney Alexander blasted Walz for his “failed leadership” and argued that the eventual Democratic nominee “will have to defend years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities.”

A dozen Republicans are already running in the party’s primary to determine a candidate for governor. The list includes a number of current and former state lawmakers, as well as MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell, a 2020 election denier and close to Trump.

A total of 36 states are holding gubernatorial elections in 2026, the midterm election year.