From Congress, to VP nominee to disgraced former governor: A look at the rise and fall of Tim Walz
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has dropped his re-election bid this week in the wake of revelations of massive fraud that occurred under his watch — potentially ended the political career...
By Fox News · Fox News
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has dropped his re-election bid this week in the wake of revelations of massive fraud that occurred under his watch — potentially ended the political career of a governor who came into office with consolidated support, accomplished several progressive goals, and shot to the national spotlight as a vice presidential candidate before being undone by scandal. The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school. Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education. He taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High. Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard. KLOBUCHAR WEIGHING RUN FOR MINNESOTA GOVERNOR AS WALZ ENDS RE-ELECTION BID AMID FRAUD SCANDAL Walz was elected to Congress in 2006 to represent Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, defeating a 6-term Republican incumbent, and built a reputation as a centrist-to-moderate Democrat, especially on veterans’ issues, agriculture, and education while serving as a National Guard member in Congress. In March 2017, he announced a run for governor, leaving the Washington gridlock and emphasizing a "One Minnesota" message and took office in January 2019 with consolidated support from the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. "Tim Walz rose at a moment of maximum political upheaval," retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel, running for Congress as a Republican to unseat Minnesota Dem. Rep. Ilhan Omar, told Fox News Digital. "After the George Floyd protests, Democrats consolidated power in Minnesota, the media closed…