Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D.) announced Monday he’s abandoning his reelection bid as the state continues to grapple with massive fraud in taxpayer-funded programs that occurred under his watch, a move that comes as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D.) prepares to enter the governor’s race.
"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 press release. "So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work."
"And even as we make progress in the fight against the fraudsters, we now see an organized group of political actors seeking to take advantage of the crisis," Walz continued. "I won’t mince words here. Donald Trump and his allies—in Washington, in St. Paul, and online—want to make our state a colder, meaner place. They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors."
Walz’s withdrawal follows a private meeting with Klobuchar over the weekend, where she confirmed her interest in replacing him, the New York Times reported. Before news of the announcement leaked, a website domain name for Klobuchar’s gubernatorial bid was reportedly registered.
Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, faced mounting scrutiny over his handling of the far-reaching Somali welfare fraud scheme in his state. Last month, a KSTP and Survey USA poll found that 79 percent of registered Minnesota voters think fraud in state programs is either the biggest or a major problem in the state. Nearly 7 in 10 Minnesotans said Walz needed to "do more" in response to the scandal.
Much of the fraud, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, was uncovered after a group of mostly Somali immigrants set up a fraudulent charity, Feeding Our Future, and stole money from a federal child nutrition program. Federal investigations have led to 78 indictments and have uncovered similar Somali-related fraud in other programs.
In November, Walz denied accountability for failing to stop the fraud and instead credited himself with the federal investigation’s accomplishments. "Well, I certainly take responsibility for putting people in jail," Walz said before pinning the blame on President Donald Trump. "This president has cut a lot of inspector generals. He’s cut programs that could help us tackle this on. That’s Donald Trump: deflect, demonize, come up with no solutions. He’s not going to help fix anything on fraud."
Walz in December also vowed to bring more Somalis into Minnesota. "We are going to defend our neighbors," Walz said at a fundraiser. "Instead of demonizing our Somali community, we’re going to do more to welcome more in."
In the Monday press release, Walz again took credit for the federal investigations. "We’ve gone to the legislature time and again to get more tools to combat fraud. We’ve fired people who weren’t doing their jobs. We’ve seen people go to jail for stealing from our state. We’ve cut off whole streams of funding, in partnership with the federal government, where we saw widespread criminal activity."
