Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic candidate for vice president, has dropped out of the gubernatorial race to serve a third term. Walz cited both an ongoing fraud scandal and a series of right-wing attacks from President Donald Trump and others in his decision to leave the race while vowing to continue to serve the people of his state during the rest of his term.
Walz drops out to ‘focus on the work’ amid scandals and right-wing rhetoric
Walz announced he’d dropped his reelection bid on Monday. In a lengthy social media post, Walz acknowledged Minnesota’s fraud scandals, saying “an organized group of criminals have sought to take advantage of our state’s generosity.” Walz also called out “an organized group of political actors seeking to take advantage of the crisis,” specifically naming “Donald Trump and his allies” for spreading conspiracy theories and for “demonizing our Somali neighbors.” Walz explained that he’s dropping his campaign for a third term to devote his attention to tackling crime in the state.
“I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work,” Walz said.
The GOP pushed a fraud scandal and criticisms against the Somali community
Walz, who ran for vice president alongside Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, has been targeted by Trump and conservatives with attacks and conspiracy theories. For weeks, Walz has been under scrutiny for a growing scandal in the state concerning alleged large-scale fraud among government-funded organizations in the state’s Somali population, a community also under right-wing and racist attacks from Trump and others. A sensational video claiming to expose fake Somali-run daycares in the state went viral, fueling accusations against that community and against Walz’s government for allowing such fraud, and leading to the Trump administration cutting child care funding for Minnesota. Later investigations by professional journalists have since shown several of the daycares featured in the video to be operating normally. Nonetheless, Nick Shirley, the 23-year-old conservative content creator responsible for the video, took credit for Walz dropping out of the race, posting, “I ENDED TIM WALZ.”
Slurs and conspiracy theories from Trump
Trump and other conservative actors have targeted Walz since Harris chose him as her running mate, and the right-wing harassment of the governor has continued since Trump returned to the White House. Trump used an ableist slur against the governor in a Thanksgiving Day social media post. He recently shared a right-wing conspiracy theory that seeks to blame Walz for the murder of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota last June.
These attacks against Walz seem to have proven too much to fight as the governor attempts to crack down on fraud in his state and campaign for another gubernatorial term. In the end, Walz has decided to end the campaign while pledging to continue to defend Minnesota against fraudsters within the state and prejudiced attacks from the White House.