A shocking development in the 2026 race for Minnesota governor as WCCO political analyst Blois Olson has learned that Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) has likely decided to drop out of the race and won't seek an unprecedented third consecutive term.
According to Olson, Walz will make an announcement about his political future on Monday, and says he's likely made the decision to drop out of the 2026 governor's race.
The apparent decision from Walz comes after President Donald Trump shared false claims suggesting Walz was behind the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman last summer in a social media post on Truth Social over the weekend.
"Dangerous, depraved behavior from the sitting president of the United States. In covering for an actual serial killer, he is going to get more innocent people killed. America is better than this," Walz wrote Saturday on social media in response.
That claim has come with plenty of backlash from both Democrats and Republicans.
Walz has faced significant backlash himself as Minnesota has been dealing with fraud within state government, and with Republicans in the state, in Washington, and more recently inside the Trump administration blasting the governor for allowing it to continue.
Minnesota officials have until next week to hand over information on providers and parents who receive federal child care funds that the Trump administration contends have been used fraudulently or risk losing federal funding. State officials said Friday recent inspections showed several childcare centers accused of fraud by a right-wing influencer were “operating as expected.”
Walz announced in September he would seek his third straight term, something no governor in Minnesota has attempted. Democrat Rudy Perpich served three terms but they were nonconsecutive.
It has certainly been a trying year and a half for Walz who in 2024 was the Vice Presidential choice for Kamala Harris. They eventually lost handily to Trump in the election. Then came the assassination of Hortman, and the alleged assassination attempts on other state lawmaker. Hortman and Walz were close, with rumors she would have been the choice for Walz as Lt. Governor with his current Lt. Governor, Peggy Flanagan, seeking the U.S. Senate seat of Tina Smith who is not running again.
Then in August, the mass shooting at Annunciation Church and School brought more gun violence to the state. Walz tried unsuccessfully to get a special session of the legislature organized to address gun laws in the state. His efforts shined a light on the divide between Walz and the DFL with Republican lawmakers in the state.
He was being challenged by a number of Republicans, including House Speaker Lisa Demuth (Cold Spring) who recently told WCCO's Chad Hartman that Walz should either resign, or step down from the race in light of the fraud issues within the state.
Other Republican in the race include Rep. Kristin Robbins, Walz's 2022 challenger Dr. Scott Jensen, loyal Trump supporter and MyPillow CEO/Founder Mike Lindell, Minnesota businessman Kendall Qualls, attorney Chris Madel, and former Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann.
There's no word on who from the Democratic side in Minnesota will step into the race for governor at this point, with prominent Democrats like Rep. Angie Craig and Flanagan are already in the race for U.S. Senate. There have been rumors Klobuchar could leave Washington and seek the governorship as well, but she would be leaving what has become an influential post in the U.S. Senate as chair of the Steering and Policy Committee.