Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s bombshell decision to bow out of re-election amid a staggering $9 billion fraud scandal has turned the spotlight squarely on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ judgment in picking him as her running mate.
According to Fox News, the story, rooted in years of oversight concerns in Minnesota, raises sharp questions about the Harris campaign’s vetting process and what was overlooked when Walz was chosen for the ticket.
Back in 2019, when Walz took office as governor, whispers of financial irregularities in Minnesota were already surfacing, though the full scale of the issue remained unclear.
Fast forward to recent years, and those whispers have exploded into a federal investigation, with prosecutors now estimating the fraud could reach a jaw-dropping $9 billion.
Despite this brewing storm, Walz was tapped as Harris’ running mate, a decision that now has critics scratching their heads over how such a glaring issue could slip through the cracks.
By the time of his selection, the scandal wasn’t some buried secret—it was public knowledge, under active investigation, and raising serious red flags about state oversight.
Eric Holder, the Obama-era attorney general who played a key role in vetting for Harris’ team, has defended the process, insisting, “Nothing of substance was missed in regard to Walz’s record,” in a statement to CNN.
But that claim feels like a stretch when a multi-billion-dollar scandal was already making headlines—hardly a minor detail to gloss over in a vice-presidential pick. John Nagel, a retired Minnesota State Patrol lieutenant and Republican congressional candidate, didn’t mince words, telling Fox News Digital, “The vetting clearly failed.”
Nagel’s critique cuts to the core of a deeper concern: if the Harris team missed this, what else might they overlook in the name of political expediency?
Walz, meanwhile, has drawn heat for touting Minnesota’s childcare programs as a national model on the campaign trail, even as the Feeding Our Future scandal casts a long shadow over his administration’s record.
On Monday, Walz announced he won’t seek re-election, a move that seems to acknowledge the weight of the controversy, though it does little to quiet the questions swirling around Harris’ decision-making.
Harris herself issued a statement the same day, wishing Walz well and commending his public service, but conspicuously sidestepped any mention of the fraud mess or the vetting process that landed him on her ticket.
That silence speaks volumes to those who believe accountability should trump political loyalty, especially when billions in taxpayer dollars are at stake.
With no response yet from Harris’ office to inquiries from Fox News Digital, the public is left wondering whether the campaign underestimated the scandal’s impact or simply hoped it would fade into the background.