Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he is ending his re-election campaign for a third term.
In a statement, Walz, who ran with Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice-presidential nominee during her 2024 presidential bid against Donald Trump, cited allegations of fraud in the Minnesota government and “political gamesmanship” by Republicans, which he said intended to cause division among state residents, as his reasons for bowing out of the race.
Despite announcing in September that he would run for a record-breaking third term, the state governor said he could no longer give his all to a political campaign.
“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,” he said.
“So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work.”
Walz claimed in his statement that scammers have acted deceitfully within the state government, a problem he said he and fellow lawmakers are working to address while fending off hostility from the federal government.
“For the last several years, an organized group of criminals have sought to take advantage of our state’s generosity. 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 said, before accusing President Trump of stoking the fire.
“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 neighbours,” he said, citing the federal government’s recent freezing of tax dollars allocated to fund child-care services following allegations of fraud and of demonizing immigrant communities, specifically Somali nationals residing in Minnesota.
In December, Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage,” claiming they were too reliant on U.S. social safety nets and gave nothing back to the country.
Get breaking National news
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump told reporters.
“Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country,” he added.
Trump ramped up his attacks on Somalis last month when Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, published unsubstantiated allegations in a magazine called City Journal, citing unnamed sources that money stolen from Minnesota state programs had gone to al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group that controls parts of Somalia.
Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families said on Friday that investigators found child-care facilities accused of fraud were operating “as expected” and legally, NBC News reported.
In 2022, 47 suspects were indicted for defrauding a federally funded Minnesota-based child nutrition program of more than $250 million. Some of the criminal cases related to the alleged scheme are still open, according to the U.S. outlet, and several of the defendants are of Somali descent.
Walz, who acknowledged that fraud within state government needs to be remedied, reiterated that many changes had been made to curb unlawful activity, including firing people who were not doing their jobs and jailing bad actors who stole from the state.
He called Trump’s targeting of Somali people “disgusting and dangerous,” and said he will not tolerate a single taxpayer dollar being lost to fraudulent activity.
“We’ve cut off whole streams of funding, in partnership with the federal government, where we saw widespread criminal activity. We’ve put new locks on the doors of our remaining programs, and we’ve hired a new head of program integrity to make sure those locks can’t be broken.”
“The buck stops with me,” he said. “My administration is taking fast, decisive action to solve this crisis. And we will win the fight against the fraudsters.”
Walz’s unexpected resignation from the race sent a political shockwave through the state. The former vice-presidential nominee faced no serious primary threat to his tenure and was touted to secure a third term. It is unclear who will run in his place.
Walz’s announcement bookends months of violent political tumult in the northern U.S. state, including the murders of former Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, who were killed by gunfire inside their home in June. On the same night, John Hoffman, a Minnesota lawmaker, and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were critically wounded after being shot 17 times between them. Both of them survived.
Walz concluded on Monday by thanking Minnesota residents and reaffirming his commitment to his role as governor.
“I want Minnesotans to know that I’m on the job, 24/7, focused on making sure we stay America’s best place to live and raise kids. No one will take that away from us. Not the fraudsters. And not the president. Not on my watch.”
— With files from The Associated Press
Comments