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Gov. Tim Walz looks and sounds like he’s getting ready for the steep climb of running for a third consecutive term.
The governor’s not ready to declare that he’s in the race, and it’s hard to blame him. These are turbulent times and Walz has been at the epicenter of it for the past year.
Consider his ride: A year ago he was the surprise pick for the national ticket; then he joined a breakneck three-month sprint of a campaign before losing a national election.
He returned to Minnesota, shell-shocked at the loss, to deal with a sharply divided Legislature that eventually got down to the heavy work of putting together a two-year budget.
By May, Walz was participating fully in negotiations and, along with his DFL allies, able to protect almost all of the progressive policy changes passed in the transformative 2023 session. The 2025 budget deal, the governor noted with pride, came without the brinksmanship of a government shutdown.
But Walz didn’t get a victory lap or even a moment to celebrate. Days after the budget passed, Walz’s friend and closest political ally, former House Speaker Melissa Hortman, was killed by an assassin in her home along with her husband, Mark.