Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is nearing the end of his second, and final, term in office, and is getting set to deliver his final State of the State Address Tuesday night.
Walz delivers the address at 7:00 p.m. inside the House chamber in the state capitol building.
It comes several months after the governor announced he will not seek a third term, after initially announcing last summer he would indeed seek an unprecedented third consecutive term in office.
WCCO Radio Political Analyst Blois Olson says Walz will likely outline some of his successes along the way.
"And I think his opportunity is going to be to walk them through how everyday Minnesota is better than it was seven years ago when he was elected," Olson said.
The governor is also likely to highlight child tax care credits, free school meals, and how Minnesota ranks compared to other states on things like health care.
From COVID, to George Floyd, and Melissa Hortman to Annunciation, and most recently the federal immigration surge, it has obviously been a busy seven-plus years for Walz.
"He talks about it being a complicated seven years, that he acknowledges that this has been very tenuous, and you have to acknowledge that he's had challenges that other governors have not had, from a pandemic to George Floyd to (Operation) Metro Surge," said Olson. "I think that, you know, it's how he handled them."
But Olson says some of what happened you may not hear about during his last address to the state - namely fraud - and says there won't be any sort of an apology for wrongdoing on the part of the administration. He says Walz is already looking ahead.
"I think he's always thinking about what's next rather than what's in front of him, and so I don't know that he's really concerned about what Minnesotans think, if they disagree with him on fraud," Olson notes.
Fraud is back in the news headlines again on Tuesday, just hours before his speech, after federal agents with the support of local agencies raided 22 Minneapolis locations as they continue to investigate fraud at childcare centers and other social services facilities.
Walz did address that on social media Tuesday, saying, "if you commit fraud in Minnesota you’re going to get caught — and that’s exactly what we saw today."
"I think this governor's incapable of apologizing," Olson added. "In fact, I think he'll say that he's focused on making sure fraud is addressed and try to take credit for work that maybe the federal government did on fraud."
As for what comes next, Walz most recently created a Political Action Committee to help recruit younger candidates to run for office, called the "Small Town PAC." After he leaves office, it won't be to run politically again, instead saying he would like to go back to teaching, but also adding he intends to accomplish more before he leaves office.
"He says, 'I still have eight months left in this job, and I intend to use every hour of every day to make as much progress as I can.' I think that's the real question," says Olson. "Will he use every hour as governor, or is his eye already on the horizon?"
Walz State of the State Address
- Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026
- Time: 7:00 p.m.
- Location: Minnesota State Capitol inside the House Chamber.
- Online stream: You can watch it live via the Minnesota House here.
