Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he is ending his re-election bid and will not seek a third term.
Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, cited the attention on fraud allegations in Minnesota as the reason for him ending his bid for another term.
“The political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win,” he said.
“But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” he continued. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”
“So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work,” Walz said.
The surprise announcement, coming just months after Walz had confirmed he planned to run again, shakes up the race for governor. Walz faced no serious primary threat and had been the favorite to win re-election later this year.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is seriously considering a run for governor after Walz’s announcement, a source told FWRD AXIS News. Klobuchar is receiving outreach from people encouraging her to run, but that she has not made a decision.
Walz said it is his belief he needs to give full attention to the fraud allegations in the state, arguing that while everyone “should be concerned about fraud in our state government,” Republican “opportunists” are “willing to hurt our people to score a few cheap points.”
Last month, a video from right-wing influencer Nick Shirley went viral, alleging fraud at child care facilities in Minnesota. After the video went viral, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would freeze all federal child care payments to the state.
Dozens of suspects were indicted in 2022, during the Biden administration, as part of an alleged $250 million fraud scheme with the nonprofit Feeding Our Future.
A state audit report released in 2024 found that failures by the state’s Education Department led to the misuse of the Covid-era program.
Walz also referenced Shirley’s video, labeling him a “conspiracy theorist,” and called out the president for “demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongly confiscating childcare funding that Minnesotans rely on.”
