Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he will not run for a third term as he faces scrutiny over his handling of the fraud scandal plaguing his state. CBS News' Hunter Woodall reports.

Minneapolis

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has announced he will not seek a third term in office. Walz, who first won the governorship in 2018 and previously served as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, is stepping down amid declining approval ratings and scrutiny over a childcare fraud scandal that occurred during his administration.

The governor's decision comes as Minnesota, a reliably Democratic state, faces increased political competition. With Walz not running, both parties see new opportunities, and reports indicate that Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar is considering entering the race, which could maintain the state's Democratic hold if she decides to run.

Tim Walz says he won't run for third term as Minnesota governor

We want to get back to the breaking news we brought you moments ago about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He says he will not run for another term. The former vice presidential nominee is expected to hold a news conference later today to explain his decision. CBS News political reporter Hunter Woodall joins us from Washington to discuss this because Hunter, good morning to you. Leading up to today, there was all sorts of speculation that this was expected. What are we hearing from the governor this morning? Good morning, Errol. This is obviously a huge decision in Minnesota politics. Democratic Governor Tim Walz was actually running for a third term as governor in Minnesota. There's not term limits like there are in other states, and that would have been something that he could have tried to do. Minnesota is one of those places where even though they don't have those term limits, he can try this, but it hasn't happened. It would have been an unprecedented third straight term as governor, and what we're seeing here is really just an unprecedented, at least to my knowledge, fall from, you know, this is somebody who was the vice presidential nominee for the Democrats, picked less than 18 months ago, and now he's essentially being chased from office amidst pressure, amidst concerns about fraud that has happened in his state. These are issues that have been going on for a little while, but the idea that they came under his watch has led to both many Republicans criticizing him, but also concerns amongst Democrats about their ability to hold onto the state. As you mentioned, the governor had sagging approval ratings, and there was intense scrutiny into what appeared to be a childcare fraud scandal that has also dogged his leadership and his administration. How did those aspects play a role in this, do you think? Well, I think when you look at Governor Walz's tenure, I mean, this is somebody who he first won office in the 2018 midterms. Minnesota's had a just absolute bizarre and traumatic set of problems over recent years. I mean, this is somebody who obviously had to deal with the rioting that came after George Floyd's murder, you know, the fire that took down the 3rd Precinct station, but also these other issues that came up in the state, including trying to lead his state through COVID, and that's where a lot of these fraud issues start coming into play. All this federal money, all these dollars that were spent, you know, to answer the pandemic, it's a tenure that really is going to be interesting in terms of Minnesota's political history. This is a blue state. I know I talk to Democrats who, you know, sometimes they say it's purple, but this is a place that is a blue state that's reliably Democratic, and the idea that both the governor was going to try and run for a third term, but also have these issues following him around obviously kind of led to some Republicans saying, hey, they might have had an opportunity here to break a longstanding losing streak in Minnesota's statewide races, but the idea now that the governor is not going to run really does open things up. I had a source tell me moments ago that a Democratic senator, Amy Klobuchar, is considering to actually running for governor. Klobuchar is somebody who has won Minnesota easily, easily time and time again. That would take this race and essentially make it a reliable Democratic hold if she does end up running. Fascinating development this morning, Hunter. We appreciate your reporting across all of it. Thanks for joining us.

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