Minneapolis
AP
—
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stated Tuesday he’ll seek a third term in 2026, hoping to beat the odds to turn out to be the longest-serving governor in a state the place voters have normally stated two phrases have been lots.
In a marketing campaign video posted on YouTube, Walz stated he’s working as a result of his work shouldn’t be achieved and he desires to make Minnesota a place the place everybody has a probability succeed.
“I’ve seen how we help each other through the hard times,” he stated. “And boy, we’ve seen terrible times this year. I’m heartbroken and angry about the beautiful people we lost to gun violence. But it’s in these moments we have to come together.”
Vice President Kamala Harris picked Walz as her working mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket after his attack line towards former President Donald Trump and his working mate, then-Sen. JD Vance — “These guys are just weird” — unfold broadly.
The governor got here underneath heavy GOP criticism after a speech in May when he in contrast Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers underneath Trump to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Congressional Republicans referred to as him out at a listening to on immigration in June, however he refused to apologize.
Walz, 61, can be ceaselessly talked about as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, however in an interview with Axios in July, he stated he wouldn’t make a White House bid if he sought reelection as governor.
Walz stated in February he wouldn’t run for the US Senate seat being vacated by Tina Smith as a result of he was extra concerned with staying governor. While his gubernatorial marketing campaign was actively elevating cash, he held off on making it official, hoping to first get previous this 12 months’s state legislative classes.
But days after ending that work, his shut political ally, former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, was assassinated. Walz delivered a eulogy at her funeral.
Walz and Minnesota mourned again late final month when two youngsters have been killed and 21 individuals have been injured in a capturing at a Minneapolis church the place college students from an affiliated faculty have been celebrating Mass.
Walz’s run for the vice presidency launched the former highschool trainer with a “Midwest Dad” picture to a wider, nationwide viewers.
He proudly touted the accomplishments of the 2023 legislative session, when Democrats used their full management to enact a sweeping platform of liberal priorities, together with free faculty meals for all college students. But it additionally introduced new scrutiny of his file as governor and as a congressman earlier than that, and his tendency to embellish or exaggerate particulars and mangle his phrases.
Walz was first elected in 2018 by over 11 proportion factors and by practically 8 factors in 2022. But no Minnesota governor has gained a third consecutive term since the state switched to four-year phrases in 1963.
No Minnesota Republican has gained a statewide race since Tim Pawlenty was reelected to a second term as governor in 2006. However, the historically Democratic state has turn out to be more and more aggressive in recent times. A few GOP candidates got here near successful statewide races in 2022, and the state House was tied between Republicans and Democrats for the 2025 session.
On the Republican facet of the governor’s race, former enterprise govt and Army veteran Kendall Qualls introduced his candidacy in May and hopes to turn out to be Minnesota’s first Black governor. Qualls additionally ran in 2022 however misplaced the GOP endorsement to household doctor and former state Sen. Scott Jensen, who introduced in July that he’s working once more.
The solely present GOP officeholder in the race to this point is state Rep. Kristin Robbins, who chairs a House committee shaped this 12 months to research fraud in authorities applications.