Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) ended his political career on Monday, announcing that he would abandon his reelection campaign in light of the fraud scandals involving his state’s nutrition, healthcare, and child care programs. But as bad as Walz’s welfare fraud scandals are, and they are very bad, the more important lesson to learn from his failed administration is about the real damage that can be done to a state’s finances when the Democratic Party achieves full control.
First elected in 2018, Walz has always enjoyed strong support from the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party-controlled state House. But it was not until 2023, after the 2022 elections, that Minnesota’s state Senate fell into DFL control. Unconstrained by any sense of moderation, Walz and his Democratic trifecta enacted radical far-left legislation, including legalized recreational marijuana, unlimited abortion, free healthcare for illegal immigrants, a ban on fossil fuels, and increased education spending.
What followed was one of the biggest spending explosions in Minnesota history. Annual general fund spending surged from $25 billion in 2022 to over $35 billion by 2024. The state has managed to balance spending and revenues for now, thanks to a one-time federal cash infusion, but it is looking at multibillion-dollar deficits every year in the future. Walz did not just spend more; he locked the state into permanently higher obligations without a sustainable revenue base to support them.
Yet for all that spending, Minnesotans saw little improvement where it mattered.
Take education, for example. Minnesota ranked well above average in per-pupil spending before Walz’s trifecta. Then he and Democratic lawmakers shoveled billions of dollars more into K-12 education, universal school meals, and expanded administrative mandates. The results were dismal. Test scores continued to lag pre-pandemic levels, achievement gaps widened, and Minneapolis Public Schools continued to struggle despite repeated infusions of cash. More money did not buy better outcomes, just more bureaucracy and mandates, and less accountability.
Healthcare followed the same pattern. Walz expanded public coverage, opened taxpayer-funded programs to illegal immigrants, and poured state dollars into health systems already struggling with cost inflation and workforce shortages. The result was not improved access or lower costs, but mounting fiscal stress. Hospitals across the state closed, services were cut, and there were staffing shortages. Faced with unsustainable spending, Walz was forced to cut back his illegal immigrant healthcare plan, limiting it to minors. Illegal immigrants over 18 years old no longer qualify for the program. Fraud proliferated in the public programs Walz touted as moral examples, exposing how little oversight accompanied the rapid expansion of government spending.
Energy policy may be the clearest example of ideological zeal overwhelming common sense. Walz signed laws mandating a carbon-free electricity grid, effectively banning fossil fuels by 2040, even as Minnesota, currently under a blanket of snow, remains heavily dependent on them for reliable power. Predictably, energy prices rose. Utility companies warned of higher rates, grid instability, and long-term affordability problems, warnings the Walz administration brushed aside. Energy became more expensive just as inflation was squeezing household budgets.
Rising costs were compounded by higher taxes. Minnesota already had one of the highest tax burdens in the country. Under Walz, lawmakers raised taxes again, expanded payroll levies, and created new fees to fund progressive priorities. Businesses noticed, and so did the public. Minnesota lost population to lower-tax, lower-cost states. Employers expanded elsewhere. Young families followed opportunity out the door.
WHAT THE ‘DONROE DOCTRINE’ DOES AND DOESN’T MEAN
Former Vice President Kamala Harris chose Walz as her running mate, not because he was moderate — he was not — but because his status as an old white man was meant to give a veneer of moderation to the Democratic Party’s far-left agenda. That agenda of massive spending increases failed to deliver better schools, better healthcare, or a more affordable cost of living. Instead, Minnesotans were left with higher taxes, higher energy bills, worsening fiscal outlooks, and a growing sense that their state government and state governor had lost touch with reality.
Fraud scandals finally ended Walz’s career, but the more serious damage was already done by the failure of his progressive agenda long before the headlines broke.