Kamala Harris’ former running mate has suggested he may run for U.S. president in 2028.
Since the Democrats suffered a catastrophic election defeat in November, former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her vice-presidential pick, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have retreated from frontline politics.
But when asked if he would run for president in 2028 during an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour, Sunday, Walz declared: “If I think I could offer something… I would certainly consider that.
“I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this,” he said. But if “the circumstances are right” and he has the right “skill set” for the moment, Walz said, “I’ll do it.”
Pushed for a yes or no answer, he added: “I’ll do whatever it takes. I certainly wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.”
The former VP pick spoke on the devastation that came with losing the election to Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“I never lost an election before”, he declared.
Walz revealed that, ultimately, the biggest emotion he was now experiencing in the new Trump era was guilt.
“The thing for me that gives me the most ‘anx’, to be candid, was letting people down. An old white guy who ran for Vice President – you’ll land on your feet pretty well. I still struggle with that it was my job to get this won, and now when I see [possible cuts to] Medicaid happening, when I see you know, LGBTQ folks being demonised – when I see some of this happening, that’s what weighs on me.”
He added that he would go wherever he needed to go to serve as a governor but that the American people had been let down by the Democrats – hence his notion of a possible return.
“A large number of people did not believe we were fighting for them in the last election – and that’s the big disconnect,” he said earlier on in the episode.
Walz continued: “I’ve always said this: I didn’t prepare my life to be in these jobs, but my life prepared me well. And, if this experience I’ve had and what we’re going through right now prepares me for that, then I would.
“But I worry about people who have ambition for elected office. I don’t think you should have ambition. I think you should have a desire to do it if you’re asked to serve. And that’s kind of where I’m at.”
The Minnesota Governor’s run at the VP job was plagued by gaffes. From telling supporters “he had school shooter friends” and exaggerating his service in the military to struggling to explain how many times he visited China, Walz slipped up repeatedly in the lead-up to the big day.
The Harris campaign had to cover the governor’s tracks when he tripped up during a California fundraiser by stating that the constitutionally-mandated system used to select the president, otherwise known as the electoral college, “needs to go”.
His former running mate Harris is currently living in California with her husband Douglas Emhoff, and is expected to decide on whether she’ll run again for office by the summer. Ultimately she could either: run for California governor in 2026, run again for president in 2028, or take “door number three” by removing herself from the running order altogether, according to St Louis University’s modern vice presidency professor Joel Goldstein to NPR.
Walz revealed the pair were not in regular contact and had only spoken “a couple times”.
