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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic VP candidate, says he’ll seek a third | |
term as Minnesota governor | |
By Associated Press | |
Updated: | |
10:13 AM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025 | |
Source: AP | |
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he will seek a third term in 2026, | |
hoping to beat the odds to become the longest-serving governor in a | |
state where voters have usually said two terms were plenty. | |
In a campaign posted on YouTube, Walz said he’s running because his | |
work is not done and he wants to make Minnesota a place where everyone | |
has a chance succeed. | |
“I’ve seen how we help each other through the hard times,” he | |
said. “And boy, we’ve seen terrible times this year. I’m | |
heartbroken and angry about the beautiful people we lost to gun | |
violence. But it’s in these moments we have to come together.” | |
Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate on the 2024 Democratic | |
presidential ticket after his against former President Donald Trump and | |
his running mate, then-Sen. JD Vance — “These guys are just | |
weird” — spread widely. | |
The governor came under heavy GOP criticism after a speech in May when | |
he compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under Trump to | |
the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Congressional Republicans called him out | |
at a hearing on immigration in June, but he refused to apologize. | |
Walz, 61, is also frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential | |
candidate, but in an in July, he said he would not make a White House | |
bid if he sought reelection as governor. | |
Walz said in February he would not run for the US Senate seat being | |
because he was more interested in staying governor. While his | |
gubernatorial campaign was actively raising money, he held off on | |
making it official, hoping to first get past this year’s state | |
legislative sessions. | |
But days after finishing that work, his close political ally, former | |
Minnesota House Speaker , was assassinated. Walz delivered a eulogy at | |
her funeral. | |
Walz and Minnesota late last month when two children were killed and 21 | |
people were injured in a shooting at a Minneapolis church where | |
students from an affiliated school were celebrating Mass. | |
Walz’s run for the vice presidency introduced the former high school | |
teacher with a “Midwest Dad” image to a wider, national audience. | |
He proudly touted the accomplishments of the 2023 legislative session, | |
when Democrats used their full control to enact a sweeping platform of | |
liberal priorities, including free school meals for all students. But | |
it also brought new scrutiny of his record as governor and as a | |
congressman before that, and his or exaggerate details and mangle his | |
words. | |
Walz was first elected in 2018 by over 11 percentage points and by | |
nearly 8 points in 2022. But no Minnesota governor has won a third | |
consecutive term since the state switched to four-year terms in 1963. | |
No Minnesota Republican has won a statewide race since Tim Pawlenty was | |
reelected to a second term as governor in 2006. However, the | |
traditionally Democratic state has become increasingly competitive in | |
recent years. A couple of GOP candidates came close to winning | |
statewide races in 2022, and the state House was tied between | |
Republicans and Democrats for the 2025 session. | |
On the Republican side of the governor’s race, former business | |
executive and Army veteran Kendall Qualls announced his candidacy in | |
May and hopes to become Minnesota’s first Black governor. Qualls also | |
ran in 2022 but lost the GOP endorsement to family physician and former | |
state Sen. Scott Jensen, who announced in July that he’s running | |
again. | |
The only current GOP officeholder in the race so far is state Rep. | |
Kristin Robbins, who chairs a House committee formed this year to | |
investigate fraud in government programs. | |
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