Photo: Jim WATSON / AFP
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will not seek a third term in office, he announced on Monday, saying he would instead focus on allegations of fraud in the state's welfare system that has become a political crisis for him after pressure from US President Donald Trump's administration.
Walz, a 61-year-old former teacher and coach, became governor of the Midwestern state in 2019, and gained a new national prominence last year when he became the running mate of then US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate who lost to Trump in the 2024 election.
Recently, the Trump administration has singled out Walz and Minnesota, including its large population of Somali Americans and Somali immigrants, over allegations of fraud, dating back to 2020, by nonprofit groups that administer the state's childcare and other social services programs with support from federal funding.
At least 56 people have pleaded guilty since federal prosecutors brought charges in 2022, under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
In his announcement, Walz referred to the fraud allegations as a crisis, and that he wanted "let others worry about the election while I focus on the work". The election is in November.
"For the last several years, an organised group of criminals have sought to take advantage of our state's generosity," Walz said in his statement. "And even as we make progress in the fight against the fraudsters, we now see an organised group of political actors seeking to take advantage of the crisis."
He said Trump and other Republicans "want to make our state a colder, meaner place."
The Trump administration, which has vowed to deport more immigrants than any prior administration, has singled out Minnesota for investigations and in social media posts, alleging rampant fraud is being committed by nonprofit groups serving immigrants in the welfare system.
In 2022, federal prosecutors brought charges against the nonprofit group Feeding Our Future, accusing it of fraud over Covid-19 pandemic relief funds intended to provide meals to children.
Most of those who have pleaded guilty so far are Somali Americans, although the founder of the nonprofit is a white American woman, who was convicted last year of fraud charges.
The prosecutions have continued under Trump, and he and other administration officials have frequently and sharply criticised the state's Somali communities, as well as Walz, and Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American Democrat who represents a Minneapolis-based district in Congress.
On Friday, the Trump administration released a statement describing what it called its "relentless assault to dismantle the massive fraud empires built in Minnesota under the watch of incompetent Democrats like Tim Walz and his Radical Left enablers".
The same day, Walz signed an executive order that creates a new investigative unit focused on fraud.
Although the scandal came to light more than three years ago, the Trump administration's attention has returned to it in recent days thanks in part to a 42-minute video posted on social media on 26 December by Nick Shirley, a pro-Trump influencer who has met with the president at the White House's invitation.
The video, which purports to expose extensive fraud at childcare centres in Minnesota's Somali community, has since received over 138 million views.
On Monday, Shirley wrote on social media: "I ENDED TIM WALZ."
- Reuters
