Tim Walz says he will not run for third term as Minnesota governor | Tim Walz
Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota who is running for vice president in 2024, announced Monday that he is abandoning his quest for a third term in office.
The move comes after ongoing welfare fraud cases caught the attention of US Republicans, including Donald Trump, who then used the cases as a pretext to go after Somali residents.
Walz said in a statement that he “cannot contribute my best to a political campaign.”
“Every minute I spend defending my own political interests is a minute I cannot spend defending the people of Minnesota against criminals who prey on our generosity and skeptics who prey on our differences,” Walz said. “So I decided to drop out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on my work.”
According to reports in several media outlets, Walz spoke with U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar over the weekend about the possibility of running for governor instead. He has served as a U.S. senator in Minnesota since 2007, regularly winning statewide re-election bids easily.
Walz announced in September that he would seek a third term as governor; It was an unprecedented move for Minnesota governor, a position he has held since 2018. Before that, he served six terms in Congress representing Southern Minnesota after flipping the seat to a Republican.
A. questionnaire A poll conducted last summer by the Minnesota Star Tribune and the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications, conducted before Walz announced his candidacy for a third term, found that nearly half of Minnesotans did not think he should run again.
His campaign to become vice president alongside Kamala Harris has significantly raised his profile nationwide. Together with legislative leaders, he used the government triumvirate to push through a series of progressive reforms in 2023 that caught the attention of the left.
This increased profile also made him a target on the right. In recent weeks, Trump has gone after Minnesota and Walz, directing immigration enforcement officials to the state; here they captured US citizens and arrested hundreds of them, despite the persistent objections of local residents. Over the weekend, Trump shared a conspiracy theory about the murders of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were close friends of Walz, trying to link Walz to the murders.
Fraud cases involving organized child food theft and services and housing programs for children with autism have posed a huge liability for Walz during his re-election and further fodder for the right to attack him and the state. Last month, a right-wing YouTuber attempted to break into multiple daycares and claimed they did not care for children; This led the U.S. government to freeze federal funding for state child care.
In his announcement on Monday, Walz said the state has made progress in combating fraud and that people are right to be concerned about fraud in government, but that there is now “an organized group of political actors trying to take advantage of the crisis.”
“I’m not going to beat around the bush here,” Walz said. “Donald Trump and his allies in Washington, St. Paul and online want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to turn our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And ultimately they want to destroy much of what makes Minnesota the best place to raise a family in America. They’ve already started taking our tax dollars to help families help with child care. And they have no intention of stopping there.”
He said “the onus remains on me” to fight corruption and prevent fraud, and that Republicans’ “political gamesmanship” makes it harder to fight fraud.
“I cannot tolerate the actions of the political leadership in Washington, opportunists who are willing to harm our people to score a few cheap points,” he said. “They and their allies have no intention of helping us solve the problem, and they have no intention of profiting from it.”
He said he believes that if he does his best to get re-elected, he will succeed in winning a third term. However, he concluded that he could not do his best and would focus on the work of his office rather than seek re-election. He said he made the decision with “zero sadness and zero regret” and was confident a Democrat would continue to hold the governorship in November.
“Most importantly, I want Minnesotans to know that I’m on the job 24/7, focused on making sure we remain America’s best place to live and raise children. No one can take that away from us. Not the crooks. Not the president. Not on my watch.”
