Gov. Tim Walz will return to Minnesota after Trump victory blocks him from becoming vice president

WASHINGTON — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will not ascend to the vice presidency after former President Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s general election.

Walz had been hunkered down with advisers in Washington, D.C., as he and the Democratic nominee Harris watched results come in from across the country. Trump led Harris in every swing state as of Wednesday morning, including the critical “Blue Wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Walz had made his final campaign stops this week.

The mood at the Harris-Walz campaign’s election-night party at Howard University in Washington on Tuesday night quickly turned somber as more results were reported. Almost all of the thousands of supporters who showed up had left by midnight. Harris and Walz never came out to address the crowd.

Walz had sought to join Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale as the only Minnesotans to ascend to the vice presidency. He was unsuccessful.

“I could not be prouder to be on this ticket,” Walz told a few dozen supporters at a diner in Harrisburg, Pa., early Tuesday. He and First Lady Gwen Walz went table-to-table shaking people’s hands and posing for pictures.

Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania before election night, Walz said his “faith in this country has been so restored” by his time on the presidential campaign trail.

“I never thought I’d be in Harrisburg in a diner with folks,” Walz said, calling the election “truly a remarkable thing we do every four years.”

“It’s democracy. It’s messy, it’s beautiful,” Walz said.

The governor found himself in a scenario few could have envisioned earlier this year, when President Joe Biden was seeking re-election with Harris as his running mate. Walz was mostly unknown outside Minnesota at the time, but his star began to rise as he led the Democratic Governors Association and campaigned as a surrogate for the Biden administration. Walz wasted little time after Biden exited the race, hitting the cable news circuit in an apparent audition to be Harris’ running mate. He won over Harris and national Democrats with his “Minnesota nice” way of attacking Republicans as “weird people.”

Harris’ selection of Walz over swing-state politicians like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro could be subject to fresh criticism now that she has lost. Some had questioned the upside of picking a running mate from a state that hasn’t supported a Republican presidential candidate in more than 50 years. Harris bet that Walz’s rural roots and background as a former soldier, teacher and football coach would strengthen her appeal to working-class voters in battleground states.

Walz’s joyful, energetic attitude was a hit with Democrats on the campaign trail. Many who attended his rallies proudly waved “Coach!” signs and donned camouflage “Harris-Walz” hats, a nod to the governor’s experience as a hunter.

But it’s unclear how much of an effect Walz had on undecided voters. The governor struggled at times during his only nationally televised debate against Vance. And Walz sometimes found himself under national scrutiny for past statements he made that were proven inaccurate.

At his last campaign events, Walz reflected on his whirlwind journey. The Democrat who grew up in rural Nebraska and was first elected to public office just 18 years ago found himself contending for the nation’s number-two role.

“How amazing is it that a kid from Butte, Neb., and a kid from Oakland, Calif. — middle-class kids, her with a single mom trying to buy a home, me with a dad who dies when I’m a teenager and my little brother’s in elementary school, my mom’s a stay-at-home mom — but because of what this country has given us and the opportunities, we are going to be the next president and vice president of the United States,” Walz said.

A Harris-Walz victory would have been historically significant nationally and in Minnesota. Harris would’ve been the first woman elected as president of the United States. And the elevation of Walz would’ve made way for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to become Minnesota’s first female and first Native American governor.

Now, Walz will head back to St. Paul to finish his second term as governor. The governor’s office won’t be on the ballot until 2026.

The governor will return to a new state government landscape. The DFL retained control of the state Senate, but the Minnesota House appears to be evenly split after Election Day.

In Minnesota on Tuesday, some voters were buzzing about the possibility of a vice president Walz.

As he headed into the Capri Theater polling place in north Minneapolis on Tuesday, Mike Knowlen said he was going to vote for Harris because he couldn’t stomach the idea of another Trump presidency. If Harris won, Knowlen said he would be disappointed to lose Walz as governor.

“He’s awesome, I love that dude,” Knowlen said. “He seems like the type of guy you could actually go have a beer with, which obviously shouldn’t be the criteria for picking your vice president, but it sure does seem to help, you know what I mean? Somebody that’s relatable.”

In Delano, on the western edge of the Twin Cities metro, Ryan Walsh felt differently. He cited Walz as a factor behind his vote for Trump. Walsh, who works at a Ford dealership, said he’s concerned about the high cost of vehicle registration in Minnesota, and that the state is becoming more expensive and liberal than its neighbors.

“Tim Walz has tried to make our state follow a lot of what California is doing,” Walsh said.

Staff writers Jessie Van Berkel and Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this report.