The Democrats are in utter disarray. But failed VP candidate Tim Walz has a trick up his sleeve.
And Kamala Harris’s running mate just made a surprising announcement for the nation.
Tim Walz Launches Town Hall Tour in Red States, Rumors Of 2028 Bid Fly
Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is embarking on a nationwide tour of town halls, targeting conservative-leaning districts across the United States. The initiative, set to begin this week, marks a new chapter for Walz following his unsuccessful run as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election, where the Democratic ticket suffered a resounding defeat to President Donald Trump.
Walz announced his plans in a Wednesday post on X, signaling his intent to give a platform to Americans in areas often overlooked by their elected officials. “I’m hitting the road, traveling to red states across the country to lend a megaphone to the people,” he wrote. “Your congressman may not want to listen, but they’re going to hear from us anyway.” The governor’s tour kicks off on Friday in Iowa, with a subsequent stop planned in Nebraska, according to CNN. His team is also arranging visits to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio in the coming weeks.
The move comes at a time when Walz and the Democratic Party are grappling with the fallout from their recent electoral loss. Speaking to CNN on Wednesday, Walz pointed to a growing frustration among voters as a driving force behind his tour. “There was just a primal scream of folks recognizing what’s going on with the Trump administration, their authoritarian tendencies, and what they viewed was a lack of a proper response from their representatives,” he said. He claimed that many Republican lawmakers have scaled back on town halls, leaving constituents feeling unheard. “These folks need to be heard. They need to be heard, and to be candid with you, Democratic leadership needs to hear them,” Walz added.
Walz’s political journey has been closely watched since Harris selected him as her vice-presidential pick in August 2024. Despite the loss, the governor has remained a prominent figure in the party. Recent reports suggest he is leaning toward seeking reelection as Minnesota’s governor in 2026 rather than pursuing an open U.S. Senate seat in his state. However, in a March 2 interview with The New Yorker, Walz left the door open to a potential 2028 presidential run, stating he would consider it if the circumstances and his “skill set” aligned.
The governor’s aides have reported a surge of interest in his tour, with hundreds of invitations pouring in from local party leaders and candidates eager to host him. Walz expressed relief at the enthusiasm, telling CNN, “I always feared that they would become apathetic after this last election and just check out, but they are not doing that.”
For Walz, the tour is less about personal ambition and more about fostering engagement. “I will do anything possible to make sure that we win in ’28. I do not need to be on that ticket,” he told CNN. “That’s not my pursuit here. My pursuit is that I am still in a position where I have a platform and I have some power to make a difference, and if 20 people show up that’s good by me because those 20 people are making a difference. This isn’t about drawing a crowd. I’ll go to states where it wouldn’t matter, but it matters to those people. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Since taking office in 2018, Walz has championed so-called “progressive” policies in Minnesota, including a controversial May 2023 law mandating that schools provide tampons in both girls’ and boys’ restrooms. The measure earned him the nickname “Tampon Tim” from President Trump and other critics.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, is facing internal challenges following the Harris-Walz ticket’s defeat. Party leaders are scrambling to refine their messaging as recent polls indicate low approval ratings for congressional Democrats, even among their own base. As the 2028 presidential race looms, potential candidates like Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Obama-era official Rahm Emanuel are already being discussed as contenders.
Tim Walz’s Surprising Admission and Ambition: Owning the 2024 Loss While Eyeing 2028
It’s a peculiar twist in the political saga of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. After serving as the Democratic vice presidential candidate in the 2024 election—a campaign that ended in a decisive defeat to the Trump-Vance ticket—Walz has stepped forward to take the blame for the party’s failure. Even more curious, he’s now hinting at a possible presidential run in 2028. The man who admits he helped steer the Democrats into a losing battle is already contemplating another shot at the national stage. What’s going on here?
In a revealing interview with Politico published on Saturday, March 8, 2025, Walz dissected the 2024 campaign alongside former Vice President Kamala Harris, his running mate. The pair concluded that the Democrats’ overly cautious approach doomed their chances. “We shouldn’t have been playing this thing so safe,” Walz told the outlet, laying bare his belief that the campaign lacked the guts to take risks. He went further, suggesting a missed opportunity: “I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls, where (voters) may say, ‘You’re full of s—, I don’t believe in you.’ I think there could have been more of that.”
The Harris-Walz ticket came together under chaotic circumstances. President Joe Biden exited the race in July 2024 amid growing doubts about his mental sharpness, leaving Harris to take the helm. Walz joined her in August, giving the campaign a mere 100 days to rally voters before the November 5 showdown. They didn’t stand a chance. The Trump-Vance duo dominated the battleground states, securing 312 electoral votes to Harris and Walz’s 226. The loss was resounding.
Since then, Walz has been everywhere—popping up in the New Yorker, chatting on MSNBC before Trump’s congressional address, speaking at the South By Southwest festival, and lining up a spot on California Governor Gavin Newsom’s podcast. He’s not exactly retreating into the shadows. During these appearances, he’s painted a picture of a campaign that never found its footing. “In football parlance, we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don’t think we were ever ahead,” he said, a comment that aligns with post-election reports of internal Democratic polling showing Harris trailing Trump all along.
What’s oddest about all this is Walz’s willingness to own the disaster. “When you’re on the ticket and you don’t win, that’s your responsibility,” he told Politico, accepting the weight of the defeat. Former campaign staffers, speaking anonymously to the outlet, agreed that Walz was mishandled. They described him as boxed in, underutilized, and stifled by a campaign paralyzed by indecision. “He was underutilized and that was the symptom of the larger campaign of decision paralysis and decision logjam at the top,” one senior Harris aide said. “Could he have changed a percent in Wisconsin? Maybe. We still lose even if we win Wisconsin.”
Others echoed the sentiment. “The world seemed to want more Tim Walz, and there were times when I wish they could’ve gotten more Tim Walz,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, lamenting that the campaign didn’t unleash Walz sooner. Another ex-staffer noted the late surge: “By the time they finally let him do anything at all, it’s like 20 days left, and he’s doing four states a day, and there’s only so much you could do. It was too short.”
The campaign’s handling of Walz wasn’t just a matter of timing. Aides pointed to his shaky debate prep against Ohio Senator JD Vance, describing him as “super nervous” and “in his own head.” Then there were the flubs—like when Walz claimed he carried guns in war, despite never seeing combat during his 24 years in the Army National Guard. “This was a guy who definitely was embarrassed by his flubs, didn’t handle them well, and seemed like there was a never-ending supply of them,” a former Harris staffer said. “I don’t look back on that campaign and think that the way we used Walz was a critical error.” Still, the campaign didn’t do much to shield him from the fallout.
So here’s the strange part: after all this—admitting the loss was on him, acknowledging the campaign’s missteps, and watching his reputation take a beating—Walz isn’t done. In a March 2 New Yorker interview, he floated the idea of a 2028 presidential bid, a notion that drew jeers from conservatives online. He doubled down with Politico, saying he’s “not saying no” to the possibility. “I’m staying on the playing field to try and help because we have to win,” he explained. “And I will always say this, I will do everything in my power [to help], and as I said, with the vice presidency, if that was me, then I’ll do the job.”
It’s a baffling stance. Walz points to a timid campaign as the root of the 2024 failure, takes the hit for it, and yet seems eager to jump back into the fray. Is this a case of unshakable confidence, a refusal to bow out, or just political stubbornness? Whatever it is, the idea of Walz eyeing 2028 after owning the Democrats’ 2024 flop feels like a plot twist no one saw coming.
The Federalist Wire will update you on any further news and reports in the upcoming 2026 and 2028 election cycles.
