Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Saturday during a live recording of Vox’s “Today, Explained” podcast that he would be “partial” to any governors who may run on the Democratic ticket in the 2028 presidential election.
The Minnesota governor also told Vox’s Sean Rameswaram during the interview that the Democratic party needs a “winning” candidate in the 2028 presidential race, according to an episode of the podcast published Monday. Notably, Walz did not mention former Vice President Kamala Harris when asked about his favorite potential candidates for the 2028 Democratic ticket, despite recent reports that she is considering a run in the race.
“You got a favorite?” Rameswaram asked Walz, in regards to the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.Â
“No, not at this time,” Walz said. “There’s a lot of them. I’m partial to governors.”
Walz also said during the interview that he has the “potential” to run for a third term in the 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial race.
“Are you running for something right now?” Rameswaram asked Walz.
“I am not,” Walz said. “I have the potential, if I would be given the privilege, to run for a third term of governor of Minnesota [in 2026]. (responding to applause) I hope those are Minnesotans. But no, but my goal is. . . .we just need to make sure that we have a winning candidate for ’28, not because they’re Democrats, but because they care about people and they adhere to our values.”
In August 2024, Harris unveiled Walz as her vice presidential running mate in her failed presidential campaign. Walz is considering running for reelection in the 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial race instead of making a bid for his state’s open Senate seat.
When asked during the Vox interview about the Harris campaign losing all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election, Walz claimed that some of their messaging that he thought was going to resonate with voters actually “did not work,” adding that he drank his “own Kool-Aid.”
“The national narrative over the top of that was going to drive it, and it felt like we were there,” Walz said during the interview. “And I [was], you know, drinking my own Kool-Aid or whatever. And that’s on me. I said I own that.”
Still, Walz told The New Yorker in an interview published March 2 that he would consider making his own presidential bid in 2028 if the conditions and his “skill set” were right. Some other potential candidates for the 2028 Democratic ticket include Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Walz has introduced a host of far-left policies during his time in office, including signing legislation in May 2023 that required Minnesota schools to provide tampons in both girls’ and boys’ restrooms, which prompted President Donald Trump and others to nickname him “Tampon Tim.”
There have been a growing number of reports in recent months that the Democratic Party has been struggling to figure out its messaging after Trump’s election victory. Relatedly, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Ken Martin wrote in a memo released on Feb. 18 that Americans “now see the Republicans as the party of the working class and Democrats as the party of the elites.”
While the quote did not appear in the final cut of the “Today, Explained” podcast released Monday, a Vox spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the included quote from Walz about his being “partial” to governors in the 2028 presidential race was accurate.
Walz’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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