Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) is reportedly expected to abandon his 2026 reelection bid amid intense political pressure over a massive fraud scandal involving the state's Somali community.
Minnesota political analyst Blois Olson is reporting the news on X.
"[Walz] will make announcement about his political future (on Monday)," Olson wrote, according to his sources. "He's likely to drop out of the 2026 #mngov race."
Walz's office has not commented on the report. KARE 11 revealed that they have reached out to his people but have not heard back. And it's important to note that the story is speculative at this stage.
However, late Sunday night, the former vice presidential candidate's office issued what the Minnesota Star Tribune is describing as an "unusually vague advisory" for an impromptu press conference Monday morning.
That event is slated to “discuss news of the day.”
"Walz has faced national scrutiny over fraud in state programs, and a growing number of Democrats have privately expressed concern about his run for a third term," the Tribune writes.
🚨 BREAKING: Sources: @govtimwalz will make announcement about his political future Mon. He's likely to drop out of the 2026 #mngov race.
— Blois Olson (@bloisolson) January 5, 2026
He met w/ @SenAmyKlobuchar on Sun. Full analysis in tmrw https://t.co/4zJJytH4Aw + live on @wccoradio at 6:20AM w/ @vsawkar
READ MORE: Viral Ghost Daycare Video Forces Tim Walz to Issue Frenzied Damage Control Statement
Walz has been reeling for weeks now from ongoing fraud probes plaguing Minnesota's social services programs. That alleged fraud exploded after a viral video, extensively covered here at RedState, reportedly showed empty "daycare" facilities with misspelled signs, locked doors, and no trace of children.
Numerous daycares in the 42-minute video from independent videographer Nick Shirley—which has been viewed over 137 million times—appear to not be operational, despite millions in taxpayer funds flowing to them.
The daycare controversy surfaced as the Somali community had already been embroiled in a fraud scandal that some observers estimate may have cost taxpayers as much as $9 billion. Businesses have been accused of funneling millions of those fraudulently obtained funds to the terror group Al-Shabaab.
Olson recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal and suggested that these scandals were not going away anytime soon for Walz.
“Fraud as an issue will haunt him until November,” he said. “He has not addressed the issue loudly enough, and most people think that he has not taken it seriously enough. It’s a sign that there’s just fraud fatigue, which ultimately means Walz fatigue.”
Gov. Tim Walz expected to drop reelection bid amid Minnesota Somali fraud probe: report https://t.co/s8da9Vhh0I pic.twitter.com/e7tnUfFp0G
— New York Post (@nypost) January 5, 2026
Walz last week desperately issued statements in an attempt to control the damage.
"The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action," a spokesperson said in a defensively-toned statement. "He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed."
Walz also tried to divert attention to the ongoing scandal, as RedState's Nick Arama reported, by posting an X message highlighting all of the supposed positives in his state. Was it to no avail?
The hastily prepared news conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday. RedState will keep readers updated on any new developments.
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