Olson: Wake up, Walz — it’s go time

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Minnesotans may wish to feel more excited about Gov. Tim Walz running for re-election, what’s routinely being referred to, often with an eyeroll or a rueful smirk, as “an unprecedented third consecutive four-year term.”

The governor took the summer to mull another run, his internal debate suggesting ambivalence. As his ambitious would-be successors waited for word from Walz, the rest of us pondered who might step up if he stepped out.

The governor ended our suspense with a video in September showing him aglow under artsy angles of sunlight. The film featured the familiar version of Walz as Minnesota’s folksy, reliable teacher and dad, the guy who fixes stuff, wears plaid and drives a boxy vintage truck with his photogenic pup as passenger.

It would be a fine launch ad if this were 2017 and the governor were embarking on his first statewide campaign. But we’ve already seen the truck (cool and blue), the dog (cute and loyal) and we know Walz can fix stuff (handy and helpful).

Also, it’s 2025. We’re in year seven of Gov. Walz.

Walz has time to up his game, but tick tock. A tangible, persistent lack of energy and focus can spin a campaign into a descending trajectory that becomes impossible to alter.

Walz must know this. He’s won many campaigns, but it’s the 2024 loss that should be instructive: Go big or go home.

During the national campaign, Walz was muzzled. He was put on the ticket for his ability to speak plainly to the masses and then promptly told to be quiet.

In a postelection interview with Politico, Walz said the campaign played it too safe, that it should been more open and accessible.

“In football parlance, we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don’t think we were ever ahead,” Walz said.

Those prickly questions are coming whether he likes it or not; better to hone and sharpen his responses now. Playing it safe and hiding out will only make him look weak, unsteady and unsure.

His soft launch also seems to indicate he thinks he can avoid the F-word: fraud. That’s a giant mistake. We’ve all seen the billion-dollar damage from fraud these past years. Walz can’t expect to look away either. This happened on his watch, and he needs to tell us he’s up to a full-frontal attack on it.

Speaking at Attorney General Keith Ellison’s campaign kickoff last week, Walz was feisty and energized. He was close to a version of the candidate who needs to emerge in 2026.

He mentioned farm losses under President Donald Trump, soaring health insurance costs and a police force on the street “doing anything they want.” He urged the faithful in attendance at the St. Paul brewery to get active for Ellison and “re-elect a fighter for the people who don’t have a voice.”

It was a short speech geared to Ellison’s supporters, but Walz can’t waste opportunities to sharpen his message. He needs to pivot with some big swings or risk losing momentum to the Republicans, because at some point a strong GOP candidate may emerge.

The last Republican to win big in a statewide election: Gov. Arne Carlson in 1994. It was a Republican year, and Carlson got 63% of the vote to 34% for the DFL candidate, Sen. John Marty.

Carlson was a moderate on social issues, a supporter of abortion and gay rights. No Republican like that has emerged so far, and it’s impossible to imagine the state GOP endorsing such a candidate today.

Schier said the Republicans will need a more moderate Republican candidate to emerge and defeat their endorsed candidate in the primary next year to have a chance at taking down Walz in the general election.

Walz shouldn’t wait to see who emerges on the GOP side. His decision to run again has blocked legions of ambitious, thoughtful Democratic politicians from moving up and seeking higher office. Walz owes it to those who would, and someday may, succeed him to be a bold candidate with ideas who lays a firm path for an eventual successor.

Remember Walz’s “One Minnesota” pitch in 2018? It was a lofty idea that he’s all but abandoned as the rural-urban divide has widened. If Walz wants a third term, he needs to talk about how he would reknit the state together.

“I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls, where [voters] may say, ‘You’re full of shit, I don’t believe in you,’” Walz continued. “I think there could have been more of that.”

The governor has time to heed his own advice now by getting out there, tapping into his regular-guyness but also mixing it up with critics, smacking the refresh button hard and coming up with something beyond what we’ve already heard.

Yes, many Minnesotans believe it’s important to have a governor who counters whatever Trump may bring, but we also want to restore the state’s historic reputation for good governance. That means a willingness to look at what ails us, from fraud to an aging and shrinking population that will lead to declining revenues.