Tim Walz spent the first full day of his last year as Minnesota governor showing off a range of raw emotion.
Like a doting dad, he played peek-a-boo with a baby while others in a Minneapolis retail building touted the new paid leave program he helped enact.
Then Walz flashed bouts of rage over what he saw as a distasteful pressure campaign aimed at hurting him and, indirectly, the state the two-term Democratic governor leads.
Taking his first questions on a decision this week to end his reelection campaign, Walz let loose and didn’t try to put a happy spin on it. He blasted:
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The “war being waged against Minnesota” by President Donald Trump and administration officials
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A new wave of federal immigration enforcement officers spilling into the state
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Trump’s spread a debunked conspiracy theory about the assassination of the late House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman, Walz’s close friend and colleague
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Minnesota Republicans who he said hadn’t stood up to the president over that post or other abrasive comments
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A federal prosecutor whom Walz alleged engaged in speculation as he offered up a ballpark estimate on fraud in state government programs
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Those in the Legislature unwilling to hold votes on gun restrictions
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz smiles and gestures as he interacts with a child after an event on the rollout of Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program on Jan. 6, in Minneapolis.Kerem Yücel | MPR News
It was a contrast from Walz’s sullen announcement a day earlier that he will abandon a third bid for governor. His voice rising and his arms in motion as he spoke, Walz said he had more energy than ever. He said it will be readily apparent to anyone who takes notice.
“I'm not running for office again, but I have a year to continue to improve on a record that I think will stand up against anybody's, a record that has made Minnesota better, a record that makes people want to come here and a record that has respected not only the dignity of people but the idea of rule of law and camaraderie,” Walz told reporters.
Walz said he’d opted not to run again after consulting his family. He said they had been subject to safety threats. But he committed to working against efforts from the Trump administration that he viewed as harmful for Minnesotans — like suspending child care funding, cutting small business loans and scapegoating Somali Americans.
“We are under assault like no other time in our state's history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn't care about the well being of Minnesotans,” Walz said. “My job is to protect the well-being of Minnesotans.”
He went after Trump’s personal integrity, too. Walz was clearly upset over the president spreading conspiracy theories that he had a role in Hortman’s assassination.
“That is freaking evil, and every one of you in this room knows it's evil,” Walz said.
Then he turned his focus to Minnesota Republicans.
“They are unwilling to stand with Melissa Hortman's children, and I want to tell you this for those legislators who went and shed crocodile tears at her funeral, shame on you. Shame on you,” Walz said. “Her children are asking you to do one thing in her name. It's to tell the president to stop doing this.”
House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is also running for governor as a Republican, told MPR News she didn’t believe the conspiracy that Walz called for Hortman to be killed. She said she wouldn’t have shared the misleading post as Trump did.
“That is not anything that I would have tweeted or retweeted,” said Demuth, R-Cold Spring. “My working relationship with Melissa Hortman is something that I value. And I think the statement that you saw come from her children in response to that. It wasn't hateful. It wasn't attacking. It was explaining the grief that they're still in and then asking for something to be taken down.”
It’s not clear whether Walz will make this the end of a political career that included two terms in the governor’s mansion and a dozen years representing southern Minnesota in Congress. Walz suggested he might return to his roots teaching geography in a high school classroom.
Others predicted Walz, 61, had reached the final chapter of his career in politics.
Former U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who left Congress after an unsuccessful Democratic run for president in 2024, said Walz made the right move stepping down. Phillips said he doesn’t see Walz reemerging as a candidate for public office.
“Just like Hollywood, American politics can make you a prince one day and a pauper the next, and I’m afraid that’s what's transpired with Governor Walz. He was a good man, but he’s also been subject to what happens in politics: It compromises principles and the focus becomes on maintaining power rather than improving lives,” Phillips said. “I know he did both, but I don’t see much of a future in Minnesota or federal politics for Governor Walz.”
Walz also said that now that he doesn’t have to worry about reelection in the fall, he’d go all in on issues that matter to him come the start of the legislative session.
He said he would push lawmakers to vote on various gun restriction measures that had stalled after negotiations on a school safety package faltered following a Minneapolis school shooting. He said legislators would have to work with him if there are more changes to be made in addressing fraud.
“I will tell you what, if they think game’s over for him now. It was all me. I was the bad guy, or whatever. Well, put up or shut up now and tell us what you're going to do to make this state better,” he said. “Expect for the next 11 months for me to ride you like you've never been ridden, to make sure that you're doing your job.
Walz may no longer be a candidate, but he said he’ll keep the pressure on in his remaining months in office.
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer , reporter Peter Cox and producer Gracie Stockton contributed to this story.
