Tim Walz Drops Out Of Minnesota Governor’s Race

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced on Monday he won’t seek reelection to a third term amid mounting criticism over a welfare-fraud scandal in his state.

Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, said he was suspending the campaign he launched in September to focus on fixing the problems in his state and bringing criminals to justice.

“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. “So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work.”

The Trump administration is probing new allegations of fraud by some day care centers run by Somali residents in Minnesota. It’s also frozen all federal funds to the state’s child care centers as federal officials investigate the matter.

“Make no mistake: We should be concerned about fraud in our state government,” Walz said on Monday. “We cannot effectively deliver programs and services if we can’t earn the public’s trust. That’s why, over the past few years, we’ve made systemic changes to the way we do business.”

He added, “But I cannot abide the actions of the political leadership in Washington ― these opportunists who are willing to hurt our people to score a few cheap points. They and their allies have no intention of helping us solve the problem ― and every intention of profiting off of it.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is considering jumping into the race for Minnesota governor following Walz’s decision to suspend his campaign, per a source close to the senator. She has been getting “a lot of outreach encouraging her to run,” the source told HuffPost, but has made no final decision.

Klobuchar currently serves as the No. 3 Democrat in Senate leadership. She was once expected to run for party whip after Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who currently holds the role, retires this year. But that job will likely go next to Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

Republicans have a crowded field of candidates running to replace Walz as governor, including MyPillow CEO and prominent conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, state Rep. Kristin Robbins and Minneapolis attorney Chris Madel.

Walz blasted Trump and other Republicans in his state for politicizing the welfare fraud scandal and blaming the state’s large Somali community writ large.

“We’ve got the President of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongly confiscating childcare funding that Minnesotans rely on,” he said. “It is disgusting. And it is dangerous.”