The Minnesota governor unexpectedly announced this month that he wouldn’t run for re-election.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that his time as an elected official will permanently end when he finishes his term as governor.

“I will never run for an elected office again. Never again,” Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in an interview with MS NOW.

Walz had said this month that he would not seek re-election as governor — sending shock waves through state and national politics — but he did not go so far as to say he would not consider another elected position down the line.

In explaining his decision Wednesday, Walz talked about the scenes unfolding in Minneapolis between residents and federal officers. He said he found that there are “heroes on the streets that we don’t know their names.”

“They’re never going to run for office, and those grass-tops leaders brought this administration to their knees this week to do something about it. So there’s other ways to serve, and I’ll find them,” he said.

Walz’s earlier announcement that he would not seek a third term as governor came amid heightened scrutiny of Minnesota’s handling of alleged child care fraud. It also came months after Walz said he wanted to run again.

The surprise news fueled speculation about his plans after he left office.

About 18 months earlier, Walz was thrust into the national spotlight when Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate in the 2024 election. Walz had repeatedly said — even before 2024 — that he was considering a future presidential bid, but he had said he would rule out a 2028 run if he sought re-election as governor.

In forgoing another campaign for governor, Walz, a frequent target of President Donald Trump, cited what he called “political gamesmanship” by Republicans.

“Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences,” he said in a statement this month.

Harris, in a statement of her own, said at the time that Walz’s “decision not to seek reelection reflects that same selfless commitment to the people he serves.”

Walz’s announcement Wednesday comes after federal officers shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which drew harsh criticism of the Trump administration by Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other Democrats. Between the fatal shootings, the Justice Department served subpoenas on Walz, Frey and other state leaders as part of an investigation into whether Minnesota officials conspired to impede federal law enforcement during the Trump administration’s immigration operations there.

“Look, I recognize that I’m a lightning rod,” he said on MS NOW, adding that “I know they hate me personally, and they take it out on my constituents.”

Trump and Walz spoke on the phone Monday, signaling a potential easing of tensions between the administration and state and local officials.

Tim Walz says he’s done with politics: ‘I will never run for office again’

Former Democratic VP nominee says he’ll find ‘other ways to serve’ as Amy Klobuchar launches bid to succeed him

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says his time as a political candidate is over.

“I will never run for an elected office again. Never again,” Walz, the Democratic Party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee, said in an interview with MS NOW.

Facing stinging criticism from President Donald Trump, other Republicans, and even some Democrats over a massive fraud scandal rocking Minnesota, Walz earlier this month announced that he was dropping his 2026 bid for an unprecedented third term as governor of the blue-leaning state.

But at the time, he didn’t rule out any future runs for elected office.

Since Walz’s announcement, the state has become the epicenter in the heated battle over Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration, following the fatal shootings by federal agents of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who protested against federal agents during deportation operations.

Pointing to the protests against the actions by federal agents, Walz said there are “heroes on the streets that we don’t know their names.”

“They’re never going to run for office, and those grass-tops leaders brought this administration to their knees this week to do something about it. So there’s other ways to serve, and I’ll find them,” the governor added in his Wednesday interview.

Walz launched his re-election bid in September but in December started facing a barrage of incoming political fire over the large-scale theft, under his watch as governor, in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.

More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022.

How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

Federal prosecutors said some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters in December, as he took responsibility for the scandal.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Nearly a dozen Republicans who are running to succeed Walz in the governor’s office are making the fraud scandal central to their campaigns.

And on Thursday, as expected, longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar launched a gubernatorial campaign, giving her party a big boost as it aims to defend the governor’s office.

The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school.

Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education.

He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High.

Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard.

 

He was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes a number of midsize cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Walz won election as governor in 2018 and re-election four years later.

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walk out on stage together during a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

But Walz was unknown to many Americans when then-Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate in the summer of 2024, soon after she replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Walz, during his three months as running mate, visually and vocally embraced the traditional role of political attack dog that has long been associated with vice presidential nominees.

But Harris and Walz fell short, losing the November 2024 election to Trump and now-Vice President JD Vance, as the Democratic Party ticket was swept in all seven crucial battleground states.

Pundits considered Walz a possible contender for the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nomination.

 

But Walz said in multiple interviews last summer that he had no interest in seeking the presidency.

And the ongoing fraud scandal and his decision to end his gubernatorial re-election put an end to Walz’s recent tenure in national politics.

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