Resorting to familiar attacks against Trump, Walz reveals little about why he dropped out of governor’s race

You think it would be hard for Gov. Tim Walz to hold a press conference and not elaborate on why he dropped his bid for reelection. 

But that’s what happened Tuesday at an events center in south Minneapolis.

(Walz read a statement yesterday in front of reporters, but did not take questions. The statement mostly discussed Minnesota being engulfed in Medicaid and childcare fraud investigations.)

Sure, what one can infer from Walz’s remarks today is that the Donald Trump administration and its attendant federal investigations, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, and tasteless and baseless claims (the latest that Walz somehow had a hand in the murder of former DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman) broke the governor’s jones for political combat.

“We are under assault like no other time in our state’s history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn’t protect the well-being of Minnesota,” Walz said. “I don’t think any governor in history has had to fight a war against the federal government every single day.”

But at the same time, Walz said that he had a civic duty to fight against Trump, refraining, “I’m not going anywhere,” even though he is going somewhere when he steps down a year from now. 

Reporters kept asking about why he stepped down, and Walz kept tersely answering that it was a personal and family decision before inveighing against Trump.

Arguably the most surreal moment was Walz getting asked what he planned to do when he stepped down.

After two sentences regarding his interest in running more 10K races, the governor free-associated, “The Epstein files need to come out. The economy is sinking. We’re fighting a war in Venezuela.”

Here are a few more takeaways as Minnesotans scramble to understand how Walz’s move affects the governor’s race and the competency of state government in 2026.

The governor criticized the U.S. Attorney’s Office

While federal prosecutors are, of course, part of the federal government, Walz has mostly spoken respectfully about acting U.S. Attorney General of Minnesota Joseph Thompson. 

But while Walz said that he will continue to cooperate with prosecutors looking into health care providers who bilked the state, he now lumps Thompson in with the Trump crowd.

He accused Thompson of “defamation” for suggesting that the state has handed out over $9 billion to providers in fraudulent payments. 

Related: What are we supposed to make of Tim Walz not running for a third term?

Walz said that Thompson “would have been let go by another administration” and is “speculating about things with no valuable information.”

Walz also criticized the Republican-led state House Fraud Prevention Committee for not sharing data with his administration. 

These statements make it unclear whether Walz will cooperate with prosecutors and Republican lawmakers on solutions to better vet health care providers.

He gave no indication that U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will run in his spot

Walz confirmed that he spoke to Klobuchar Sunday, but quickly said that he talked to everyone from Minnesota’s DFL Congressional delegation.

Walz said nothing good or ill about Klobuchar as a candidate and said that Minnesota DFLers “have a very deep bench.”

The governor also semi-dodged a question about whether other DFLers implored him not to run, stating (again) that it was a “personal decision.”

At a couple of moments, Walz did take stock.

Like sunlight creaking through clouds, Walz provided glimpses of himself as a human being who can end a sentence without blasting Donald Trump.

He emphasized that he serves as governor not for personal gain, but to help shepherd through new social programs like Paid Family and Medical Leave, and free school meals.

And he did say a couple of things about jobs held besides governor.

“To be candid with you, what I’m really good at is I’m a really good geography teacher. I think that’s something where I would find joy in getting back there trying to teach,” Walz said. 

Later he added, “Have I been perfect with this? God dang, no. I wasn’t perfect as a teacher. I wasn’t perfect as a soldier. I wasn’t perfect as a coach. But I was pretty damn good at all those things.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect Gov. Walz’s teaching subject.

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