Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday he is dropping his bid for reelection in Minnesota, a dramatic turn for the two-term governor who gained national prominence as his party’s 2024 vice-presidential nominee but now faces intense scrutiny over welfare fraud investigations in his state.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) is considering jumping into the governor’s race, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. One person said Klobuchar is “almost certain” to run and met with Walz Sunday. The other said Klobuchar has not made a final decision.
Democrats had grown increasingly worried about Walz’s choice to seek a third term as Republicans, including President Donald Trump, put a spotlight on the fraud issue, which federal prosecutors have been investigating for several years. GOP influencers, a viral video and new information from authorities — who say the scams could be far bigger than previously known and reach into the billions of dollars — have drawn more attention to allegations that scammers stole brazenly from Minnesota safety net programs for services they never provided.
Walz has accused Republicans of politicizing the issue and demonizing the Somali immigrant community, fixating on the fact that many of the fraud defendants are of Somali descent. He said in a statement Monday morning that he takes the fraud seriously and has come to the conclusion that 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 was elevated as Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential race and widely viewed as a possible presidential candidate in 2028. He announced in September that he would seek an unusual third term as governor.
In his statement Monday, he reiterated his denunciations of Trump. The president has lobbed broad attackson Somali immigrants that Walz denounced as “racist lies,” and many on the right have called for deportations, even though officials say most of the fraud defendants are U.S. citizens.
“We’ve got the President of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongly confiscating child care funding that Minnesotans rely on,” Walz said, referencing a federal freeze on some child care funding in response to the fraud issue. “It is disgusting. And it is dangerous.”
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