Gov. Tim Walz is coming back to Minnesota politically bruised after three months courting voters across the country as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
What’s next for Gov. Tim Walz after failed vice presidential bid?
The governor returns to Minnesota after months on the national stage. The makeup of the Legislature he will be working with next year remains uncertain, as do his plans when his current term ends in two years.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 6, 2024 at 3:33PM
Instead of stepping into the vice presidency, Walz will continue the job of leading Minnesota with two years left in his term and a complex budget season fast approaching.
But Donald Trump and JD Vance’s win Tuesday leaves Walz’s political future beyond that uncertain.
The 60-year-old Minnesotan’s quick rise from relatively little-known governor to Harris’ No. 2 took many by surprise. Walz spent his few months on Harris’ ticket racing through battleground states trying to boost turnout and win over voters with his Midwestern dad brand of politics.
“Thank you to folks across this country who wrapped their arms around our family,” Walz told supporters in Harrisburg, Pa., on Election Day. “I hope you saw yourselves in us, middle-class folks who are just trying to do the right thing.”
As of Wednesday morning, many of those battleground states appear to have opted for Trump, including the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with Michigan also leaning in Trump’s favor.
The governor will return to Minnesota, where a majority of local voters supported the Harris-Walz ticket and where many Democrats had been preparing for the possibility of Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan stepping into the state’s top job.
Almost 51% of Minnesota voters backed the Democratic ticket this year, while about 47% picked Trump and Vance. In the 2020 election, more than 52% of voters backed President Joe Biden and Harris, while roughly 45% voted for Trump and Mike Pence.
The makeup of the Legislature that Walz will be working with remains to be seen.
Democrats maintained control of the state Senate in a special election, but which party would rule the House was up in the air. Tuesday morning it appeared the chamber could be evenly split, but some races were poised for recounts.
At a Minnesota GOP watch party on election night, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said things were looking “very, very positive” for Republicans in the House.
”We need to hold Governor Walz — when he comes back — more accountable,” Demuth said. “There has been none.”
The DFL previously held the state government trifecta: control of the House, Senate and governor’s office. They used it to push through an array of long-held Democratic goals in the 2023 budget year.
Walz and legislators will need to reach another budget deal in the 2025 session. The governor’s plan for the next two years of state spending has been in the works for months and he must propose it by the end January.
Lawmakers passed a nearly $72 billion budget two years ago, by far the largest in state history. Republicans decried the jump in state spending but DFL leaders stressed at the time that a large chunk of the roughly 40% increase was one-time spending. Whether the next budget will drop substantially remains uncertain, given inflationary and spending pressures.
Walz is in his second term and whether he would seek a third round as governor or look to another office remains to be seen. Minnesota does not limit the number of terms a governor can serve.
The governor’s daily schedule did not include any events Wednesday.
Christopher Vondracek and Ryan Faircloth contributed to this report.
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