Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday that he is running for reelection in 2026, seeking a third term in the state’s top office.
“We’ve made historic progress in our state, but we’re not done yet,” he said in the announcement on X. “I’m staying in the fight — and I need you with me.”
The Democrat will try to become the state’s longest-serving governor, after he was first elected to the seat in 2018 and won reelection in 2022. In 2024, he jumped to the national stage as Kamala Harris’ running mate, where they won Minnesota by a slim 4 points.
In his campaign announcement, Walz lauded Minnesota as “the best place on Earth,” but acknowledged the “terrible times” the state had experienced after former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed by a gunman in June, and another state lawmaker was shot.
“I’m heartbroken and angry about the beautiful people we’ve lost to gun violence,” he said in the announcement video. “But it’s in these moments we have to come together.”
Walz has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump throughout his term, ripping into his administration for its moves to impose tariffs and slash the federal workforce.
“This isn’t servant leadership. It’s not any kind of leadership at all,” Walz said in an annual address to the Minnesota Legislature in April. “It’s small. It’s weak. It’s petty. It takes the awesome power of the federal government and turns it into a crude weapon, wielded by a man who wants to be a king.”
Since the end of his vice presidential bid, Walz has fanned rumors that he’d run for president in 2028, as handfuls of Democratic hopefuls are already taking steps toward the job.
In 2026, the Democratic governor will face a line-up of Republican candidates who’ve already launched their campaigns, including state Rep. Kristin Robbins and former state Sen. Scott Jensen. Walz beat out Jensen for the governor’s seat in 2022 with more than 52 percent of the vote.
“I’ve always tried to do what’s right for Minnesota,” he said in the video. “And I’ll never stop fighting to protect us from the chaos, corruption and cruelty coming out of Washington.”
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