Walz says Twin Cities must be ready for Trump to send in National Guard

Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that Minnesota is preparing for President Donald Trump to send the National Guard into the Twin Cities as the White House deploys troops into more Democratic-led cities.

“It would be logical for them to come here,” Walz said. “We fall into exactly what it looks like they’re trying to target: blue cities.”

Walz made the comments at the Minnesota Star Tribune’s first-ever North Star Summit, where he and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker appeared on a panel about how governors are responding in the current political moment.

Pritzker appeared at the Minneapolis event on the same day that troops from Texas arrived on the outskirts of Chicago. The Trump administration has said the troops are to aid in crackdowns on crime and to assist with immigration enforcement. Guard troops typically serve in conflicts overseas or in response to humanitarian crises domestically.

Pritzker said he believes the Trump administration has a more “nefarious” reason for the deployments: to suppress voters in Democratic-leaning big cities in the 2026 midterm elections.

“He’s going to guard the polling places,” Pritzker said. “You’re going to see soldiers outside your polling place. That’s going to intimidate a lot of people, and especially, it’s going to intimidate people who are not Republicans.”

The two Democratic governors have emerged as prominent critics of the Trump administration during his second term in the White House. Walz and Pritzker both said they believe that they could be jailed by the administration.

The administration’s actions are not normal, Walz said, urging Republicans to denounce them. Pritzker said he sent state police to protect peaceful protesters in the Chicago area.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the governors’ statements.

Both men acknowledged that Democrats lost their chance to keep Trump from regaining power in the 2024 election. Walz took some responsibility for his role in that failure as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

“Had we done more last fall, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he said.

Pritzker criticized the Biden campaign for emphasizing the need to protect democracy over elevating kitchen table issues like utility bills, housing costs and grocery prices. Democrats should push their ideas for making life more affordable next year, he said.

“I hate that we have to talk about democracy,” Pritzker said. “But for God’s sakes, we’re not going to win an election if there is no election.”

Walz, who like Pritzker is running for a third term, confirmed that he will not run for president in 2028. Pritzker, however, demurred from directly answering a question about his plans from moderator and New York Times national political correspondent Lisa Lerer.