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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vide presidential candidate, officially announced his decision to end his 2026 gubernatorial re-election campaign in a statement obtained by the Associated Press on Monday (January 5).
Walz said he still believes he could have won another term but decided "that I can't give a political campaign my all" following what he called an “extraordinarily difficult year for our state.” The governor's decision followed criticism from President Donald Trump and others over his handling in the Minnesota Medicaid fraud case, with conservatives accusing him of being slow in his response to the alleged fraud.
“Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said via the Associated Press. “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.”
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill announced the Trump Administration decision to freeze child care funds to Minnesota and demand an audit on several day care centers following a series of reported fraud schemes involving government programs alleged to have taken place in recent years last Wednesday (December 31). Walz pushed back on his X account, claiming the state had spent several years cracking down on fraudsters but the decision to freeze child care funds was part of Trump "politicizing the issue."
"This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue - but this has been his plan all along. He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans," Walz wrote in response to O'Neill's announcement.
O'Neill referenced a video shared by a right-wing influencer claiming that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud and demanded Walz submit an audit of the centers alleged to have been involved in the schemes, which would include attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations and inspections.
“We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” O’Neill said.
The administration's announcement came one day after U.S. Homeland Security officials were reported to be conducting a fraud investigation in Minneapolis, which included visiting unidentified businesses and questioning workers. Several fraud investigations have been launched in Minnesota in recent years including a $300 million pandemic food fraud scheme centered around the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which resulted in 57 people being convicted.