Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said this week that he will not run for elected office again after completing his current term, effectively ending his long career in electoral politics. Walz, a Democrat who was the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2024, made the announcement in an interview, stating that he had “no political consideration” to seek future office and that he intends to focus on other ways to serve once his term ends in early 2027.“I will never run for office again,” Walz told MS NOW.
Walz first became governor in 2019 and served in the U.S. House of Representatives before that. His decision not to pursue further elected office closes the door on any future campaigns after years in public life.
The announcement comes as the 2026 gubernatorial contest in Minnesota is already under way, with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar formally entering the race to succeed him and a number of Republican candidates also vying for the open seat.
Walz’s exit reshapes the political landscape in Minnesota weeks before the state’s primary season, with party officials and voters preparing for a competitive election cycle.
Earlier this month, Walz surprised state and national political observers by withdrawing from the 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial race. He had launched a bid for a third term but faced intense scrutiny over a large fraud scandal involving state welfare programs and sustained criticism from political opponents.
Walz then wrote on X/Twitter that he had “decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work.”
Feeding Our Future is a nonprofit that prosecutors say falsely claimed to provide meals to children in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in 2022, federal authorities charged dozens of people connected to the organization, most of them of Somali origin.
In March, a federal jury found nonprofit founder and executive director Aimee Bock and Salim Said guilty for their roles in a $250 million fraud scheme tied to a government-funded children’s nutrition program. Said was a co-owner of a local restaurant that supplied meals under the program.
Prosecutors alleged that Bock and Said used proceeds from the scheme to purchase property, luxury vehicles, and international travel.
Bock, who is not Somali, was the subject of federal raids on her home and offices and was convicted on seven federal charges, including bribery. She has not yet been sentenced.
Said, who is also awaiting sentencing, was convicted on 20 federal charges, including bribery and money laundering. Both face potential sentences of up to 30 years in prison.
Also, the U.S. Department of Labor has since announced plans for a targeted review of Minnesota’s unemployment insurance program amid increased scrutiny of fraud in the state’s human services programs, an issue that has gained political attention at the national level.
In a letter to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the department said recent news reports detailing fraud in Medicaid-funded human services programs could indicate potential fraud or abuse within the state’s unemployment benefits system.
“If there has been any related abuse of our (unemployment insurance) systems, it will not be tolerated, and I trust our specialized strike team to get to the bottom of this and report their findings directly to me,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a press release, per the Minnesota Reformer.
Also, Chavez-DeRemer told Fox Business that her agency was sending an unemployment insurance ‘strike team’ to Minnesota to widen the fraud probe.
Finally, videographer Nick Shirley has produced two bombshell videos highlighting was he says is more widespread fraud mostly within Minneapolis’ Somali community, including phony daycare centers and ghost ‘transportation’ companies.
