Coach Tim Walz won’t return for another season at the Minnesota state house, after a brutal autumn stretch put the kibosh on his once high-flying career. The former Democratic vice-presidential nominee will remain governor until his term ends in January 2027, but he won’t seek reelection this fall, having been knocked out of contention by news of an awe-inspiring fraud that took place on his watch.
In a defiant Monday morning press conference announcing his decision, Walz defended his administration’s anti-fraud record. He also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI, which have handled nearly every investigation, charge, and conviction in dozens of cases against criminal rings, mostly Somali American, that stole as much as $9 billion in federal aid. Walz then attacked Republicans, in Minnesota and nationwide, for supposedly exaggerating the fraud problem instead of trying to fix it. He departed the podium swiftly and took no questions.
It’s been quite a fall. In 2024, Kamala Harris and her team liked Walz’s Midwestern common sense and believed he would add a touch of masculinity to the ticket. After all, he had served 24 years in the National Guard, first in Nebraska and then in Minnesota. Moreover, he was a hunter and had even been an assistant high school football coach. Some doubters criticized him for embellishing his military service, such as when he referred to “weapons of war that I carried in war,” despite never having deployed in an active conflict. Yet most Democrats were sold on Walz as a progressive fighter who could also appeal to cultural conservatives.
In practice, the hunter-soldier-coach seemed anything but in his national appearances. In the vice presidential debate, he came across as more Minnesota Nice than as the guy who had promised to skewer fellow veteran J.D. Vance. Even Saturday Night Live spoofed his performance, with comedian Jim Gaffigan portraying Walz as a lovable heartland rube.
Walz had also drifted toward his party’s left wing during his years in office. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 as a moderate, flipping a longtime GOP seat with a campaign focused on veterans affairs. He claimed the governorship in 2018 on a similar platform, but he slowly revealed deep progressive convictions, such as when he called the 2020 George Floyd protests in his state an expression of “legitimate rage and anger,” and hesitated for days to send in the National Guard. In his second term he pursued progressive policies that torched any appeal he had among conservatives, such as a 100 percent green energy mandate by 2040 and legal protections for transgender surgeries.
