Gov. Tim Walz bullish about re-election chances: ‘If we run again, we will win.’

Gov. Tim Walz on Monday gave his strongest signal yet that he intends to seek a third consecutive term next year, confidently predicting he will win if he runs again and warning possible challengers they’d face the “best fundraiser that ever sat in this office.”

In a wide-ranging interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Walz said he believes Republicans will face a poor midterm election outlook next year due to the unpopularity of President Donald Trump and his signature tax and spending bill that was approved by Congress last week. Walz said he is well positioned to make a case for re-election in 2026, arguing he has led the state through challenging times and can continue to be a counterweight to the Trump administration.

“It won’t be me against a theoretical Republican. It will be one of theirs who will bend the knee to Donald Trump, and it will be this bill tanking the economy and Donald Trump having done more stuff,” Walz said. “If we run again, we will win.”

“I have the capacity to ramp up a campaign that would be bigger than anything that they would see,” Walz added.

One prominent Republican, Kendall Qualls, has entered the 2026 race for governor so far. Qualls, an Army veteran and former health care executive, campaigned for governor in 2022 and narrowly lost the GOP endorsement to Scott Jensen.

Walz could face some resistance if he runs again, particularly from voters outside the core metro counties. More voters recently polled by the Minnesota Star Tribune said they’d rather see him step aside than seek a third term, and at least 6 in 10 registered voters outside Hennepin and Ramsey counties said they disapprove of the governor’s performance in office, including in the suburbs.

Asked when he’ll formally announce his re-election plans, the DFL governor said, “I think you can probably start to figure it out.” He said he will decide soon but is giving it a little more thought after the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman, his close governing partner.

Walz said he expects to face some of his most difficult governing decisions yet over the next 18 months, due to cuts Republicans in Congress made to federal entitlements, including Medicaid and nutrition. He said it’d be difficult for him to say he’s “not going to do [the job] after that.”

“I’m not going to do anything without going full bore into it,” he added.

The governor vowed to hold Minnesota’s congressional Republicans accountable for the federal reconciliation bill Trump signed Friday, which is expected to cost the state more than $750 million annually in cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, according to an estimate from the governor’s office.

Walz said he may have to call the Legislature back for a special session to deal with the effects of the federal cuts on the state budget.

He called out Republican U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer, Pete Stauber and Michelle Fischbach, saying they added to the national debt by voting for the bill and “don’t do anything for Minnesota.”

“I’m working for Minnesota,” Walz said. “They’re working for Donald Trump.”

Walz noted that Emmer, the majority whip in the U.S. House, played an instrumental role in the passage of the Trump-backed bill. The increase in the national debt and “destruction of many of the programs that helped Minnesotans” will be Emmer’s legacy, he said.

“For the next 18 months, the congressional delegation’s owning every God dang thing they did,” Walz said, “and I will make sure using my platform that they own it.”

A spokesperson for Emmer said Monday that Minnesotans “won’t be fooled, just like the American people weren’t when they rejected [Walz] at the ballot box in November.”

“Tim Walz lies like he breathes,” the spokesperson said, “which is why he has no credibility left.”

A spokesperson for Stauber said “if Tim Walz was truly working for Minnesotans, his approval rating would be better.” Fischbach’s spokesperson said “the people of Minnesota know [Walz] does not work for Minnesotans.”

If he were to be elected to a historic third consecutive term, Walz said he would focus on preserving gains made by Democrats over the past few years and on keeping Minnesota competitive into the future.

He raised the question of whether he could again run on the mantra of “One Minnesota,” while recognizing that after almost two terms in office, people either like him or don’t.

“I think there’s a message to say and there’s a record to stand on that is pretty highly effective in a really challenging environment,” Walz said.

Walz acknowledged that Trump’s most fervent supporters probably aren’t going to support him. But he continues to believe he can appeal to people in the middle.

“I think there’s a large number of Minnesotans that are tired of this drama … and I have always had the ability to kind of walk that space," Walz said.