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By Sydney Kashiwagi

Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Hello and welcome back to another DC Dish! 

It's only Tuesday, but the news in and out of Minnesota is showing no signs of slowing down.

Then and now. Gov. Tim Walz's sudden announcement that he's abandoning a third term re-election bid amid a mounting fraud crisis marked a rapid fall from grace after just a year and a half after he was tapped by former Vice President Kamala Harris as her unlikely Democratic vice presidential candidate pick, my colleagues Ryan Faircloth and Walker Orenstein report. 

Walz’s exit from the race — and possibly from politics entirely — came as he's faced a barrage of attacks over fraud from his greatest political foe, President Donald Trump.

Looming legacy. The governor's decision is one that is sure to leave a lasting impact on his legacy. Read more. 

Impact on fraud. Meanwhile, Walz's departure is also likely to have an impact on fraud-fighting efforts, in addition to the dynamics of the coming election season, my colleague Jessie Van Berkel reports. 

“If Democrats think they can sweep Minnesota’s fraud scandal away by swapping out Tim Walz, they are wrong,” GOP House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth said in a statement.

The Walz administration has been rolling out a number of fraud prevention efforts but he has just a year to try to build a lasting legacy on combating fraud. Read more. 

ICE expected to ramp up in Minneapolis. As the political world is watching the Walz news unfold, CBS News is reporting that ICE is planning to send as many as 2,000 personnel to Minneapolis to carry out immigration arrests amid the fraud scandal. Read more. 

More on fraud in Washington. And tomorrow, Republican state lawmakers will testify before the House Oversight Committee to talk about the fraud crisis. 

Musical chairs begins to replace Walz. Now that Walz won't seek re-election, all eyes are turning to who will replace him. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's name is top of the list. She's being encouraged to run but hasn't made up her mind. Secretary of State Steve Simon and Attorney General Keith Ellison also could be contenders themselves. Read more. 

Most delegation Dems are in for Klobuchar. In the congressional delegation, most of the Democrats, with the exception of Rep. Ilhan Omar, have indicated that Klobuchar would be the strongest candidate, if she does decide to run for governor.

Rep. Angie Craig told me many Minnesotans have reached out to her to encourage Klobuchar to run. "I hope that she decides to run. I will support her immediately if she announces that she's running for governor." 

Sen. Tina Smith said she suspects other possible candidates will wait to see what Klobuchar does before they make any announcements. "I expect she'll move pretty quickly," Smith said of Klobuchar's possible entry, though she would not say if she's personally encouraged her to run. Smith herself is not interested in running for governor. 

"Sen. Klobuchar would be a great leader for our state if she chooses to run for governor," Rep. Betty McCollum said. 

Creating another Senate scramble. Craig, who's giving up her seat to run for the U.S. Senate, and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan will both stay put in the Senate race and have no plans to run for governor. 

But if Klobuchar does run for governor and wins, she would have the ability to appoint a temporary replacement to the U.S. Senate until a special election could be held, my colleague Christopher Vondracek points out. 

Whoever is appointed to fill that vacancy could run in the special election that would be called and held during the next major election with other candidates. 

And the candidate who wins that special election would then be able to serve out the remainder of Klobuchar's term, which is set to end at the start of January 2031. Read more. 

All hypotheticals for now. The possibility of another Senate vacancy is a hypothetical that Craig brought up when we spoke. So, I asked Craig if she thinks Klobuchar could appoint herself or Flanagan to replace her. But Craig maintained she's going to stay in her current race. 

Back to the spicy Senate primary. The congresswoman took it a step further, facetiously saying she thinks "a Klobuchar-Craig ticket sounds really good right now," (I had to double take and clarify if she meant a joint ticket as governor and lieutenant governor, but she meant a joint Senate-gubernatorial ticket. Thought I had a big scoop for a second!). 

Klobuchar-Craig makes the most sense, Craig says. The congresswoman argued that unlike Flanagan, she and Klobuchar would be the best fit for the top of the ticket because they would not be tied to the fraud crisis in Minnesota, given they're both federal lawmakers.

"I think the impact more broadly to the Senate race is that Peggy Flanagan will have many of the same issues [on fraud]," Craig said. "We absolutely can't afford to let her be the nominee and put this Senate seat at risk."

Flanagan camp brushes off diss. Team Flanagan brushed off Craig's analysis as her "choosing to lean into Republican attack lines to distract from her pro-Trump record."

"Peggy Flanagan has been clear that anyone who steals from taxpayers should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – and that’s exactly what’s happening in Minnesota," Flanagan spokesperson Lexi Byler said in a statement. "Governor Walz has said repeatedly that the buck stops with him and voters are taking him at his word."

Walz will join small-business owners to provide an update on the state's paid leave program at 11:30 a.m.

He did not take questions during his news conference yesterday after his big announcement, but he said at the end of it that he plans to take questions today. So stay tuned. 

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