In 1980, Ronald Reagan critiqued President Jimmy Carter’s administration by asking Americans: Are you better off than you were four years ago? The nation emphatically answered “no,” and Reagan was swept into office.
As Minnesotans evaluate the governorship of Tim Walz, they can similarly ask if they’re better off now than they were seven years ago when he first stepped into the governor’s mansion. The answer would be another “no.” On every relevant metric — from the economy to education to crime — Walz’s governorship has been a catastrophe for the state.
Let’s begin with the economy. In 2024, Minnesota’s GDP per capita fell below the U.S. average for the first time, and Minnesota’s real-per-capita GDP growth has also ranked near the bottom of states in recent years. The story is similar for job growth: Since 2018, Minnesota total nonfarm jobs have grown by approximately 2.8%, less than half the national rate.
In part driven by a lackluster economy, the state’s fiscal health gets a poor grade. After enjoying a record $19 billion surplus — substantially driven by federal COVID-related funds — Walz and his administration so mismanaged the budget that the state went into a $6 billion deficit.
A key driver of the state’s lackluster economic metrics is the punitive tax environment. The state’s tax climate consistently ranks in the bottom tier nationally, with an individual income-tax rate of 9.85% and a business rate of 9.8%, both among the highest in America.
Is the Minnesota economy better after seven years of Walz? Absolutely not.
Education outcomes are even more alarming — and hit home for families across our state. Statewide proficiency rates now sit below 50%: Mathematics proficiency hovers around 45%, and reading is in the mid-40s. The decline began before the pandemic and represents a decline of roughly 10 points compared to pre-Walz levels. These aren’t abstract statistics. They represent children falling behind, a workforce underprepared for tomorrow’s challenges, and citizens less equipped to engage with a complex world.
Gov. Walz loves to remind us he is a former teacher and the billions of dollars of new funding for schools, but the more relevant question is whether kids are doing better under his leadership. The answer is “no,” and every Minnesotan should be troubled by that.
Public safety remains foundational to any thriving community, and Walz again has not delivered. The trauma of 2020 and 2021 — marked by the rioting that Walz failed to quell in a timely manner and historic levels of violence — has given way to persistently elevated rates of violent crime. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported 170 murders statewide in 2024, down slightly from 181 in 2023 but over 50% higher than in 2018. Minnesota is now an above-average violent-crime state.
Alongside serious violent crimes are extraordinary levels of fraud in public programs. The “Feeding Our Future” scandal — hundreds of millions of dollars in misused pandemic-era school-meal funds — remains one of the largest fraud cases ever tied to state programs. And federal prosecutors estimate total fraud in state-administered aid may exceed $1 billion. This isn’t petty theft; it’s a betrayal of taxpayer trust, and the Walz administration has shown extraordinary disinterest in engaging with it.
Alongside these dismal performance results is the reality that Walz has embraced a variety of kooky policies that can only lead Minnesotans to scratch their heads, including free college and free health care for illegal immigrants, driver’s licenses for illegals without any security measures to ensure they are not used to facilitate illegal voting, boys in girls sports, and spending increases of 38% in a single year. Many Minnesotans ask why such policies are the priorities when they can’t afford their mortgage, when they feel unsafe on the street, or when their child is not being educated.
Leadership isn’t measured by headlines or intentions; it’s judged by real-world, positive outcomes for everyday people. On this basic measure, Walz has failed. We are not better off than we were seven years ago.
Jim Schultz is president of the Minnesota Private Business Council (growthmn.com ), is a former professor of constitutional law at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and was the 2022 Republican nominee for Minnesota attorney general. He can be followed on X @JimForMN. He wrote this for the News Tribune.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not represent an official position of Alpha News.
Jim Schultz
Jim Schultz is the President of the Minnesota Private Business Council and was the 2022 Republican nominee for Attorney General.
