Gov. Tim Walz announced he is dropping out of the 2026 governor’s race in Minnesota. Walz announced he is ending his campaign for a historic third term on Monday.
“I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work,” Walz said in a statement.
Walz came under fire after citizen journalists and conservative bloggers uncovered $18 billion (yes, billion) in taxpayer funds were stolen in state-run social services programs.
The governor is accused of handing out millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to anyone who applied for a license to run daycares and healthcare facilities in the state.
Walz is accused of covering up the massive fraud by not monitoring the programs.
The feds are now on the ground in Minnesota investigating the fraud. 92 people have been arrested so far.
Investigations found that there were no children registered in hundreds of daycares.
One daycare owner claimed someone broke into his facility and stole enrollment documentation for children enrolled in his daycare.
He also said employee documentation was stolen. The man wore a pair of $2,200 Chrome Hearts glasses as he spoke to reporters.
Imagine that ~ ~ Minn. Somali-run daycare bizarrely says all their important documents about child care were stolen in mystery break-in https://t.co/8DSV6DNuf2 pic.twitter.com/TR2PvcwzIt
— Mary (@matjendav4) December 31, 2025
Some daycares were based in homes worth millions of dollars. No one answered the doors when reporters knocked.
Over 80% of the daycare operators in Minnesota are Somali immigrants. They reportedly send millions of dollars back home to their families in Somalia.
“Massive fraud of taxpayer dollars occurred on Tim Walz’s watch. He’s either complicit in this theft or grossly incompetent in preventing it,” Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement Monday.
Walz called the fraud investigation a “targeted attack on the Somali community.”
“We’ve got the president of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on,” Walz said. “It’s disgusting and it’s dangerous.”
Walz was the Democratic nominee for vice president alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
In September he announced that he would run for an unprecedented third term as governor of Minnesota.
“But as I reflect on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” he said Monday.
“Every minute that 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 want to prey on our differences,” the Democratic governor added.
He denied reports that he didn’t have a chance of winning reelection due to the massive fraud uncovered in his state.
