From Congress, to VP nominee to disgraced former governor: A look at the rise and fall of Tim Walz
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has dropped his re-election bid this week in the wake of revelations of massive fraud that occurred under his watch — potentially ended the political career of a governor who came into office with consolidated support, accomplished several progressive goals, and shot to the national spotlight as a vice presidential candidate before being undone by scandal.
The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school. Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education.
He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High.
Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard.
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Walz was elected to Congress in 2006 to represent Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, defeating a 6-term Republican incumbent, and built a reputation as a centrist-to-moderate Democrat, especially on veterans’ issues, agriculture, and education while serving as a National Guard member in Congress.
In March 2017, he announced a run for governor, leaving the Washington gridlock and emphasizing a "One Minnesota" message and took office in January 2019 with consolidated support from the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.
"Tim Walz rose at a moment of maximum political upheaval," retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel, running for Congress as a Republican to unseat Minnesota Dem. Rep. Ilhan Omar, told Fox News Digital. "After the George Floyd protests, Democrats consolidated power in Minnesota, the media closed ranks, and Walz benefited from a narrative that treated him less as a governor subject to scrutiny and more as a symbol of progressive governance."
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On social media in recent days, many have speculated that Walz being elevated to the presidential ticket alongside Kamala Harris brought a level of public scrutiny that ultimately contributed to his waning popularity.
In August 2024, roughly two weeks after Harris stepped in to run for president after President Joe Biden withdrew himself from the race, Harris announced Walz as her running mate, touting his resume as a "governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran."
"He's delivered for working families like his," Harris said.
Walz said in an interview earlier this year that Harris chose him, in part, because, "I could code talk to White guys watching football, fixing their truck" and "put them at ease." He described himself as the "permission structure" for White men from rural America to vote for Democrats.
Almost immediately, Walz was enveloped in scrutiny over his record and criticism for several high-profile gaffes, including stolen valor allegations and a claim he was present at the Tiananmen Square massacre that he was forced to walk back with the explanation that he is a "knucklehead at times."
Ultimately, many political pundits viewed Harris' decision to pick Walz over other potential running mates like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as a misstep and Harris herself wrote in her book, "107 Days," about her disappointment in Walz's vice presidential debate performance, saying that being the "closer" and debating on such a large scale was "not a comfortable role" for Walz.
During his time as governor, Walz notched several progressive victories, including signing a $2.3 billion education budget — the biggest in Minnesota’s history — funding expanded free meals for students, thousands of new pre-K seats, and increased mental health resources in schools.
In 2023, Walz signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act, making Minnesota one of the most abortion-friendly states in the wake of the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Other legislation Walz signed into law included the Minnesota Voting Rights Act, a $2.6 billion bipartisan infrastructure package, and a paid leave law that Democrats had long pushed for.
Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.
More than 90 people — most from Minnesota's large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation's largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers, and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
"The fraud scandals shattered the image," Nagel told Fox News Digital. "They weren’t just policy failures — they were failures of leadership and oversight. Once federal investigators stepped in and national media paid attention, the contrast between the narrative and the reality became impossible to ignore."
Fraud concerns in Minnesota had been an open secret in Minnesota for years, dating back to when Walz took office, but exploded in recent months to the national forefront, leading to calls from prominent Republicans for him to resign.
"As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all," Walz wrote in a statement. "Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences."
"So I’ve decided to step out of this race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work in front of me for the next year," the governor added in his statement and in front of cameras a couple of hours later.
It is unclear whether Walz will seek political office in the future, but his time as governor is set to end in January 2027.
Some political pundits last year had viewed Walz as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Such talk is obviously over amid the Minnesota fraud scandal and the governor's stunning move to end his re-election bid.
Veteran Democratic strategist Michael Ceraso told Fox News Digital that Democrats, heading into 2028, need someone younger than 60, not attached to the Harris 2024 campaign, "an executive with a proven track record of leveraging government programs to serve others, not wasting taxpayer dollars, and a candidate with emotional intelligence matched with unscripted rhetoric that connects with someone at a wrestling match or a local bar and in southern states."
"Waltz is a good man. A folksy man. But he is not a ‘fresh’ take. He does not check any of these boxes," Ceraso emphasized.
Walz's daughter, Hope, gave some insight this week into why he ended his bid for a third term, including a dig at Trump.
"I think he believes if he's not in the race, there's nothing, they [Republicans] have nothing else because he has that, you know, national profile," she said. "Trump just hates him for some reason. I think it's because he's everything Trump will never be."
Walz took several swipes at conservatives in his Monday announcement, at one point claiming Republicans are "playing politics with the future of our state."
Conservative New Hampshire radio host Chris Ryan told Fox News Digital, "Apparently all the mirrors at the Governor's mansion in Minnesota are broken."
"It's not Republicans' fault that a massive fraud scandal is ending Tim Walz re-election bid, it’s his lack of ability to identify and address the scandal in a way that satisfies Minnesota voters."
Ultimately, Nagel told Fox News Digital, "Walz’s rise was powered by crisis politics and party loyalty," Nagel said. "His fall came when accountability finally caught up. That arc should be a warning about what happens when power goes unchecked for too long."
"In the end, Tim Walz wasn’t undone by his critics — he was undone by the absence of accountability that surrounded him for too long and his belief that legacy media outlets would continue to whitewash his record."