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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced that he will not seek re-election amid an accelerating scandal over welfare fraud that has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
‘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,’ Walz said in a statement on Monday morning.
‘So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work.’
Walz, who was Kamala Harris‘ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2024, also noted that he ‘came to the conclusion’ he could not give his all to a political campaign after conversations with his family.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, the former 2020 presidential candidate, is expected to enter the gubernatorial race as the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic Party nomination.
Klobuchar met with Walz privately yesterday to discuss the transition and is now ‘seriously considering’ the run, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The announcement comes as Walz has been rocked by scandal over massive fraud involving state welfare, including payments to daycares and COVID-era loans.
The majority of the defendants indicted so far come from the Somali community.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz testifies during a House Oversight Committee hearing with U.S. governors about state policies regarding undocumented migrants, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 12
Independent journalist Nick Shirley conducted a series of visits to Minnesota daycares and published his findings on X last month
Walz previously appeared to acknowledge some degree of fraud that existed in his state in a statement made last month.
‘This is on my watch. I am accountable for this. And more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,’ Walz said at the time.
Independent journalist Nick Shirley conducted a series of visits to Minnesota daycares that serve the Somali community, attempting to interview the operators, and published his findings on X last month.
Shirley uncovered a daycare in Hennepin County that appeared to be non-operational when he was there, despite allegedly receiving $4 million in taxpayer money.
The shocking film sparked an immediate federal response including by FBI Director Kash Patel and Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem who then announced investigations into the loans.
Prosecutors now say at least 57 people connected with the Feeding Our Future program billed the federal government $250 million, claiming to buy meals for children during the COVID pandemic.
Instead, the defendants allegedly used the stolen money to buy Lamborghinis, Porsche SUVs, beachfront property in Kenya and private villas in the Maldives. The vast majority of those convicted in the case are Somali.
Investigators then found that around $9 billion in federal Medicaid funds supporting 14 Minnesota programs since 2018 may have been stolen, US Attorney Joe Thompson announced on December 18.
Eighty-two of the 92 defendants in the child nutrition, housing services and autism program scams are Somali, prosecutors say.
It was later revealed that Walz had connections with at least some of the refugees charged in the fraudulent scheme.
Walz has been summoned to appear on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dc, on Wednesday for a House Oversight hearing on the ‘Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota.’
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told Fox News’ Sunday Briefing that he thinks ‘it’s very likely [Walz will appear].’
‘We’ve asked not only Gov. Walz, but also Attorney General Ellison, both of whom were in Congress, who I served with in Congress, so they know the rules of Congress. They know how serious this is. This has gotten the attention of the national public… so they will have to show up and defend themselves,’ Comer added.
Walz was previously expected to run for a third consecutive term as Governor, despite his previous failed national campaign as Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
Yet, a growing number of elected officials inside Walz’s party expressed concerns about the viability of him winning the gubernatorial election, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune reports ahead of Monday’s announcement.
Nearly a dozen Democrats who have spoken to the newspaper in recent weeks said they thought Walz should not seek re-election – with some even comparing his run for a third term to former President Joe Biden’s doomed 2024 campaign.
‘There’s always sort of gossip and rumblings,’ State Sen. Jen McEwan admitted, though she claimed: ‘I’m not a part of the group that’s talking actively about this.’
The push to oust Walz came amid the fallout over a federal investigation found that dozens of Minnesota residents, predominantly Somali refugees, defrauded the federal government potentially of billions of dollars.
Klobuchar’s entry into the Minnesota gubernatorial race would be formidable for both Democrats and Republicans alike.
Now in her third term as senator, Klobuchar won her last election in 2024 with over 56 percent of the vote despite President Donald Trump driving GOP turnout that year.
She also won her 2018 election with over 60 percent of the vote, and her first statewide run in 2012 by over 65 percent.