Gov. Tim Walz details decision to drop out of campaign, rails against ‘petty’ Trump administration

Gov. Tim Walz put some of his fellow Democrats on edge running for a third term while facing mounting scrutiny over Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud crisis.

But speaking to reporters a day after his Jan. 5 announcement, Walz made clear that the decision to end his campaign was his.

“This is a decision that I [made],” Walz said, emphasizing he made it after talking it over with his family.

At a news conference on Minnesota’s new paid leave policy, Walz said he spoke with all of the Democratic members of Minnesota’s federal delegation, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is considering a run for governor now that Walz is out.

He declined to discuss the specifics of his conversation with Klobuchar.

“Republicans assured they’re going to lose the governor’s race dramatically,” he said in an apparent nod to a potential Klobuchar campaign. A person close to Walz later confirmed the governor was referring to Klobuchar.

Walz said Republicans who think he was the “bad guy” now have to “put up or shut up … and tell us what you’re going to do to make this state better.”

But with a year left in office, Walz said he will keep working, including to address the fraud that engulfed the state and his political aspirations. The state is investigating fraud across more than a dozen Medicaid programs, including two in which providers are facing federal fraud charges.

While Walz said he’s accountable for the fraud, he had some choice comments for Minnesota Republicans whom he accused of “protecting the biggest fraudster,” President Donald Trump. And, he said, he’s not leaving the governor’s office before the end of his term.

“Over my dead body will that happen,” Walz said.

He said he does not have plans for after he leaves office early next year but suggested he could possibly return to the classroom one day. Walz spent two decades as a teacher before his first run for office.

“To be candid with you, what I’m really good at is, I’m a really good geography teacher. I think that’s something where I would find the joy in getting back in there, trying to teach,” Walz said.

“We are under assault like no other time in our state’s history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn’t care about the wellbeing of Minnesotans,” he said.

Several outlets reported Jan. 6 that the federal government would freeze funds to five states led by Democrats, including Minnesota. Walz called that an illegal punishment.

“This is a concerted effort to try and destroy the president’s opponents, to destroy the rule of law,” Walz said. “It became apparent to me that he was going to do that with me being there. And I just feel, along with my family, that it’s the best decision for Minnesota.”

Walz also said he was concerned about his family’s safety amid the barrage of attacks he’s faced from the Trump administration.

“I’m concerned for my family, but I’ve got a little bit of protection now,” he said of his own security detail. “My family, not so much.”

“With things rapidly changing in the past month or so, I think my dad kind of started questioning it,” Hope Walz said.

Walz also criticized Minnesota Republicans running for governor for not standing with the children of assassinated House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. Colin and Sophie Hortman criticized Trump for spreading lies on social media that Walz was involved in the killing of their parents.

“For God’s sake, the children of a murdered speaker — and [Republicans] can’t speak up and say, ‘Mr. President, this is wrong. Stop it,’” Walz said.

Asked about Trump’s post, Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said Trump’s post was “not anything I would have ever retweeted.”

With his remaining time in office, Walz said he plans to push for gun control legislation, something he centered in his brief bid for a third term. Walz was visibly moved by the Hortmans’ murder in June and the killing of two children in a mass shooting at Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic Church and School in August.