Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday answered questions from reporters for the first time since announcing the suspension of his reelection campaign earlier this week, offering a look into what he called his “personal” decision to drop out of the race.

Asked if he had made his decision not to seek a third term because of pressure from fellow Democrats, Walz said it was a choice “made with my family,” and took aim at the administration of President Donald Trump, calling recent immigration enforcement actions and suspension of federal aid due to suspected welfare fraud a “war that’s being waged against Minnesota.”

“I think it’s a personal decision,” Walz said during a news conference on paid family and medical leave in Minneapolis. “It’s effectiveness. I never took this job to be governor. I took the job to pass things like paid family medical leave. I took this job to get our children food. I took this job, and what I will continue to do for a year … (to) protect every single person in this state.”

Minnesota has attracted significant attention from the Trump administration in recent months after long-standing issues with government fraud gained national media attention. Federal officials have cut off day care funding to Minnesota and threatened to pause Medicaid funding unless the state demonstrates further actions to boost the integrity of its federally funded programs.

Walz: ‘It’s the best decision for Minnesota’

Federal prosecutors estimate the state lost billions of federal dollars in recent years to Medicaid theft schemes, though Walz officials have disputed that figure and have painted recent actions by Trump officials as a weaponization of the federal government.

“This is a concerted effort to try and destroy the president’s opponents, to destroy the rule of law,” Walz said. “And it became apparent to me that he was going to do that with me being there. I just feel, along with my family, that it’s the best decision for Minnesota. I feel very confident in that.”

Walz announced he wouldn’t seek another term on Monday amid mounting scrutiny on his handling of large-scale fraud in state welfare programs in recent years. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor’s final decision on a third term reportedly came after a weekend meeting with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is now considering running for governor in 2026.

Asked if he recommended Klobuchar run, Walz said he spoke with “all” of the Democratic Congressional delegation and “let them know” of his plans.

“I spoke with a lot of key allies. I spoke with my family. And just let them know that this is what we were going to do,” he said. “Sen. Klobuchar was one of those conversations.”

A central issue in state politics

While the governor described his decision as personal, it comes as fraud has become an unavoidable, central issue in state politics.

Walz had initially pushed against criticisms that his administration had not been proactive enough in stopping fraud. But in recent months, he directed his administration to take greater action amid a wave of new federal prosecutions and pressure from Republican opponents.

Federal fraud indictments continue to emerge in housing and autism programs after a federal investigation first became public in the summer of 2025. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson recently described Minnesota as having an “industrial-scale” fraud problem.

In December, Thompson announced new fraud charges in two Medicaid-funded programs and told reporters that the state could have lost $9 billion or more to fraud in 14 “high-risk” Medicaid-funded programs since 2018. Walz and other state officials have disputed that estimate.

Walz said Thompson “would have been let go by any other administration” for “speculating about things with no factual information.”

“That’s defamation,” Walz said. “And that’s coming from the U.S. attorney. We are under assault like no other time in our state’s history because of a petty, vile administration that doesn’t care about the well-being of Minnesotans.”

Not resigning

Walz was first elected in 2018 and won a second term in 2022. No governor has served three consecutive terms in Minnesota history.

Asked about Republican calls for his resignation, Walz told reporters: “You can make all your requests for me to resign over my dead body.”

The governor said dropping out of the race would allow him to focus on addressing fraud in state programs during his final year in office.

“I’m accountable for this, and because of that accountability, I’m not running for office again,” he said Tuesday. “But I have a year to continue to improve on a record that I think will stand up against anybody’s.”

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