Keith Ellison, Steve Simon Toss Up as Democratic Nominee for Minnesota Governor as Tim Walz Drops Out of Race

Written by :

t c jackson

Published on :

5 January, 2026

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday that he is dropping out of the 2026 governor’s race.

Keith Ellison and Steve Simon were each receiving 24% of the backing by Kalshi traders as of Monday morning with limited volume.

A 43-minute video, posted to YouTube the day after Christmas by a 23-year-old conservative content creator, claimed with little evidence Somali-run child care centers in Minnesota were fraudulently taking funding meant to provide child care for low-income families. The video, boosted by Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk, quickly racked up millions of views.
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The impact was swift: DHS and the FBI ramped up their presence in the state, and federal funding for child care in the entire state was frozen.

But a week later, state officials said the child care centers accused of fraud in the video were all operating as expected when visited by investigators.

Tim Walz will be holding a press conference Monday morning.

There has also been some speculation that U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar could potentially become the Democratic nominee for governor, however, she has received zero trading at Kalshi as of 9 am ET Monday morning.