St. Paul, Minn. — After losing his bid for vice president on the Democratic ticket this November, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he is not ruling out running for a third term in the state’s top office.
“I’ve always said the decision to do that is really driven more by the people as they start to see if there’s a desire in the direction we’re going. If we see the support is there, then I would listen,” Walz said in an interview Thursday, his first with WCCO since the campaign ended.
Walz, who is halfway through his second term, said the decision about his political future will come sometime next year, but for now he is focused on the legislative session that begins in January. The make-up of the capitol will look different: A tied Minnesota House between Republicans and Democrats will end the DFL trifecta of the last two years, which saw passage of an onslaught of progressive policy wins like paid family leave, gun safety measures, legalized cannabis, abortion rights and more.
That means Minnesota is back to divided government, a defining feature of his first term in office. He pledged to work with Republicans to pass the next budget, which is the big task on the to-do list next year.
And the state faces a bleak financial outlook in future years. State budget prognosticators said that the state is spending more money than revenues it’s taking in, which could lead to a $5 billion deficit.
“I would also make the case that our political climate is not as damaged as the national [climate] yet. I think it’s still there. And look, I’m not naive, but we proved it in 2019. We were still able to get some things out,” Walz said. “So I think coming back now into a climate that looks like we’re going to get a split House gives us an opportunity to kind of prove to the country again that we can get stuff done.”
Minnesota doesn’t have term limits for governor, but If Walz were to run again, it would be notable. Democrat Rudy Perpich is the only Minnesota governor in modern history who has served three terms, though they weren’t consecutive. Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty tried unsuccessfully for a third term in 2018.
Reflecting on the vice presidential campaign, Walz says he needs to ‘learn more about America’
Walz’s track record as governor is part of the reason Vice President Kamala Harris chose the former school teacher-turned-politician to be her running mate. In reflecting on his time as the vice presidential nominee, Walz said he was proud of the campaign and that it was a privilege to travel across the country to make the case to voters.
But he fell short.
“I think what we have to understand is the mood where people are at and understanding where they’re at. I think economic issues did impact them,” Walz told WCCO. “I think we’re going to have to understand — what type of leadership do they want? We were pledging to be inclusive. We were pledging to bring people in. Donald Trump has said that that isn’t what he wants, and so if that’s what America is leaning towards, I guess for me, it’s to understand and learn more about America because I thought that they were going to probably move towards a more positive message.”
The Democratic Party is having a reckoning in the wake of defeat — not only for the White House but also in Congress, where Republicans will control both chambers. Walz said his biggest lesson in losing was to listen more and for Democrats to think about how they are communicating their message.
Support among working-class people propelled President-elect Donald Trump to victory. He acknowledged those trends.
“I think we’re gonna have to figure out, are we communicating — I think we’re communicating the right way, but are we communicating in the right spaces? Are we communicating to where people are at and where they’re listening to?” Walz said. “To have Donald Trump seen as a champion of the middle class, I fully don’t see how that would happen, but I recognize that’s where people voted. So I think we have to both decide, is the message the right one?”
California is “Trump-proofing” its policies. Will Minnesota do the same?
Democrats in California — with supermajorities in the state legislature and control of the governor’s office — are in a special session to fund the attorney general’s office so it’s prepared to “Trump-proof” the state.
Minnesota’s political balance in St. Paul is vastly different and it’s highly unlikely Republicans who will share power in the House will agree to do something similar to California. But Walz said he is contemplating what it would look like if Trump acts on some of his promises, like eliminating the Department of Education and clawing back money unspent for climate initiatives.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a fellow Democrat, also told Axios he is prepared to take legal action, as he has before with other Democratic-led states, against the incoming administration.
“I’m asking my agencies to understand what would it mean if Donald Trump does follow through with these things that he said he was going to do. What would that look like for us here, and how would we be able to respond?” Walz told WCCO.
