Walz keeps one foot in national spotlight, other at home as State of the State address arrives
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Democratic Gov. Tim Walz gives his State of the State speech Wednesday night to a politically divided Legislature and less than a month left on the 2025 legislative calendar.
It has been a little more than six months since he came up short in his vice presidential bid. And it comes as Walz faces new challenges back home and a reelection decision creeping closer.
Walz is straddling the two worlds: He wants to remain a major figure among Democrats that being on the presidential ticket gave him, but he also needs to find a way to navigate a session more complex than when his party controlled the Capitol and money was flush. This year, there is barely any fiscal wiggle room – and possible federal spending cuts could compound the difficulty for Walz and lawmakers.
“I think the state of Minnesota is in a very solid spot but I don't think any of us should kid ourselves: We're in very precarious territory,” Walz told reporters last week.
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At a recent roundtable in Bloomington, Walz focused specifically on how reductions to federal Medicaid funding would put a squeeze on the state’s finances – with as much as $1.6 billion per year at risk.
“The state has no capacity to make up that difference. We will do our best, but we don't have the capacity,” Walz said.
Previewing the speech to a joint session of the Legislature, Walz said he plans to focus on actions by President Donald Trump’s administration and Republican-controlled Congress.
But he also said he’ll strike a hopeful tone and points to a letter Republican state lawmakers sent earlier this year to their GOP counterparts in Washington. The letter warned that slashing Medicaid could put care for older and vulnerable patients at risk or merely shift the costs.
“They understand the issue and they're trying to find a solution,” Walz said. “I think there's a glimmer of hope there, that we can come together, and I think that's what that speech will look like.”
Walz has said he will decide by summer if he’ll try for a third term as governor. He hasn’t ruled out a 2028 run for president, although he has deflected questions about that as being premature. Still, he’s worked to stay in the national spotlight since his unsuccessful run for vice president. He’s a constant critic of the Trump administration, making regular appearances on cable TV.
He’s been holding town halls in Republican congressional districts in other states.
Like in Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa Nebraska and even as far away as Texas.
“I was given a platform by running on the ticket with Kamala Harris that I think I can bring some attention,” Walz told MPR News before taking the stage at a town hall in Des Moines, Iowa last month.
“I would argue that Democratic officials should hear the primal scream that's coming from America is do something, damn it,” Walz said to cheers in the auditorium of Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. “This is wrong!”
But this speech in St. Paul is expected to be more tailored to the challenges at home. Minnesota has only a small cushion for the upcoming two-year budget and could encounter a big deficit in a few years without a shift in course.
Legislative leaders are scaling back budget blueprints to keep a shortfall at bay. Walz himself has proposed curbing growth in health care spending and other fast-rising expenses to chip away at the future problem.
Politically, things aren’t as cushy for Walz as the last State of the State a year ago, when DFLers were charging through an ambitious agenda with the governor’s blessing. Now, Democrats narrowly control the Senate and the House is evenly divided between the two major political parties.
“I really think what we're going to hear from the governor is him bringing everyone together to control the state spending at this point,” Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth said.
Republicans know they’ll have a voice in how the session plays out, and they want Walz to acknowledge that.
“The governor has an opportunity to really pull people together in the state and unify when we are being incredibly partisan,” Demuth said. “That is maybe pushing people to extreme actions in other areas, and dividing both the state and potentially the country further.”
DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman said it’s impossible to divorce the federal actions under Trump and the fortunes of Minnesota.
“I imagine he's not going to be able to avoid talking about what's happening at the federal level,” Hortman said of her expectations of the Walz remarks.
“I'm sure he's going to talk about Medicaid funding [that] is probably the biggest, clearest threat,” Hortman said. “But really the erosion of the rule of law – the idea that any one of us could be picked up at any point and sent to a gulag without any due process – is a national crisis.”
After the speech, there’s less than a month for lawmakers to move their budget bills from committees to the House and Senate floors. The two chambers will then work in conference committees to find compromises.
The governor and leaders say their talks have been going well.
“All the budgets show cuts and responsible spending,” Walz said earlier this month. “It’ll be dependent on how easily we can get to some agreements.”
While the attention of Walz has been undeniably split this year, the governor will be more tied down over the next month as lawmakers race to complete a budget by the May 19 adjournment deadline.