Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on Monday he will end his campaign for a third term as governor and took the opportunity to slam President Donald Trump and his allies for politicizing claims of fraud in the state.
“I won’t mince words here,” Walz said in a statement. “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. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family. They’ve already begun by taking our tax dollars that were meant to help families afford child care. And they have no intention of stopping there.”
Walz, who announced he was running for a third term in September, said he still has “every confidence that, if I gave it my all, I would succeed in that effort.”
“But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays,” he continued, “I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all.”
The decision on Monday represented an abrupt turn of political fortune for the 61-year-old two-term governor, who campaigned in 2024 as the Democratic vice presidential nominee but has since been dogged by scrutiny of Minnesota’s social services departments.
Walz’s announcement came less than two weeks after an explosive viral video leveled accusations of fraud at Somali-run, government-funded day care facilities. In the 42-minute video, Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old self-described “independent“ journalist who appears to align with the right, visited multiple centers and alleged they received state funds while not housing children.
Shirley’s video has come under some scrutiny, with a state analysis finding the centers operating normally. The Star-Tribune also visited the 10 facilities in question and “found children inside four of them when invited outside,” while “six other facilities were either closed or employees did not open their doors.”
Last week, Shirley accused the mainstream media of being the “enemy of the people,” echoing Trump’s recurring swipe.
The Dec. 26 video, which came after long-running claims of misappropriated state funds for social programs, drew the attention of prominent conservatives, including Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, House Speaker Mike Johnson, multiple cabinet secretaries and billionaire Elon Musk.
Walz’s office initially defended itself from the video’s claims, including by touting the hiring of a program integrity director to prevent fraud cases and by highlighting his previous attempts to address credible allegations of fraud in state programs. Walz, a spokesperson told Fox News last week, has “worked for years to crack down on fraud.”
But the fallout from Shirley’s Dec. 26 video led to an increased presence by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in the state, a freeze of federal funding for child care in all states pending further data and a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday about the claims. Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have also been invited to testify before the committee next month.
The attacks on Walz have gone beyond the fraud claims. Trump amplified a conspiracy theory on Saturday that Walz was involved in the assassination of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, which Shirley referenced in a Sunday tweet at the governor.
Walz appeared to allude to Shirley on Monday as he blasted a group of “conspiracy theorist right-wing YouTubers” who’ve tried “breaking into daycare centers” to see children. He also said Trump’s attempts to attack Somali immigrants in the state, which houses the largest Somali population in the U.S., and confiscate federal funds were “disgusting” and “dangerous.”
The governor said he would use his final year in office to “combat the criminals, rebuild the public’s trust, and make our state stronger.”
“Most of all, 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,” Walz said. “No one will take that away from us. Not the fraudsters. And not the President. Not on my watch.”