Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, last year’s Democratic nominee for vice president, will run for a third term, he announced Tuesday.
“I want to make Minnesota a place where everyone has a chance to succeed in every corner of the state,” Walz said in a video announcing his reelection plans.
Walz, who leaped into the national spotlight after Kamala Harris picked him as her running mate last year, has previously said he would not run for president in 2028 if he sought a third term in the governor’s mansion.
In his campaign launch video, Walz alluded to the June assassination of former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a close ally who was killed alongside her husband and dog in their home while another state lawmaker and his wife were injured by the alleged gunman. A special election to fill Hortman’s seat in the state House is set for Tuesday.
“I’m heartbroken and angry about the beautiful people we’ve lost to gun violence,” Walz said in the video. “But it’s in these moments we have to come together.”
Before he was elected governor in 2018, Walz served six terms in the House representing the largely rural 1st District in southern Minnesota. After flipping the seat in 2006, he had a series of mostly comfortable reelection wins, save for his last race in 2016 when he defeated Republican Jim Hagedorn by less than a point as Donald Trump was carrying the district by double digits. Hagedorn flipped the seat in 2018, and Republicans have held it ever since.
Minnesota Democrats controlled the state House and state Senate in 2023 and 2024, allowing Walz to push through several policy priorities. In his video Tuesday, he touted a paid family leave plan set to take effect next year, tax cuts for middle class families and investments in public safety among his administration’s accomplishments. He also emphasized education, noting that the state’s graduation rates have risen.
In announcing his campaign, Walz didn’t go after Trump by name or refer to his unsuccessful vice presidential run, although he did vow to “never stop fighting to protect us from the chaos, corruption and cruelty coming out of Washington.”
Walz will need to find a new running mate for next year’s election. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is running to succeed retiring Democratic-Farmer-Labor Sen. Tina Smith.
A large field of Republicans are seeking to challenge Walz next year, including 2022 gubernatorial nominee and former state Sen. Scott Jensen, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, former St. Cloud City Councilmember Jeff Johnson, retired mixed martial arts fighter Brad Kohler, retired Navy officer Phillip Parrish, and Kendall Qualls, who ran for governor in 2022 and Minnesota’s 3rd District in 2020. More candidates could also enter the race.
Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty was reelected.
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