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Tim Walz’s daughter defends father amid Minnesota fraud row, explains why he dropped out of 2026 race
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced he will not seek re-election in 2026. His daughter Hope explains his decision.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election. His daughter shared details about what led him to drop out of the state's 2026 race, as he faced mounting national backlash over a massive Somali fraud row.
Tim Walz's daughter opens up on father's drop out from government race
Hope Walz told, “We were kind of talking about it over the holidays and that’s the decision he came to, my family came to,” One Hour Detours host John O’Sullivan just hours after her father's announcement. She said that her father started reconsidering his reelection bid “with things rapidly changing within the last month,” as reported by The New York Post.
The 25-year-old recalled, “I don’t want to speak for him, but I think when things started getting really intense for me like on my social media and then people even saying things like to Gus and stuff, I think that’s when he was really like, ‘Okay, like, I need to evaluate what’s best for the state and then I need to evaluate what’s best for my family,'" adding, “And then, I think it was just kind of a natural conclusion.”
She further said, “My dad would say, part of the decision he decided to step away from the race was to kind of get that target off of Minnesota. I think he believes if he’s not in the race, there’s nothing, they have nothing else.”
Hope says Trump ‘hates' Walz 'for some reason’
Hope noted that her father has borne much of the blame because of his national profile, saying that Trump “just hates him for some reason." She said, "I think it’s because he’s everything Trump will never be. “I think he was popular during the campaign last fall and he’s still in office and he’s running again, and so it’s just kind of an easy thing for them to pick up on.”
She said she believes there is “enough truth to the fraud claims” for Trump and his supporters to “twist and amplify it” and “frame it in a way that benefited them,” and added that the issue "is being dealt with.”
Hope's interview comes a month after she lashed out at critics, saying they were directing insults at her younger brother Gus following the President's criticism of Walz over his handling of the Somali food aid fraud scheme.
