Minnesota’s decline did not occur overnight. It was engineered, year after year, under the failed leadership of Governor Tim Walz and Minnesota Democrats. Ideology replaced oversight, political narratives replaced accountability, and “compassion” became an excuse for corruption.

In 2009, Forbes magazine named Minneapolis the safest city in America. Today, however, our state is a shell of itself, no longer known for clean government or competent leadership. It is now known for fraud and abuse.

Across the state, hundreds of childcare centers are under investigation for allegedly stealing billions of taxpayer dollars meant to help children. Federal auditors are demanding proof that children were even present at these make-shift daycares with misspelled names and fake addresses. Minnesotans are rightly asking how such a massive scheme could operate openly for years without intervention. The answer is obvious and uncomfortable: Tim Walz and Minnesota Democrats allowed it to happen.

A recent press conference captured the rot. A daycare operator claimed that enrollment records, documents that would supposedly exonerate his organization, were conveniently stolen during a break-in. Worse yet, as he spoke about his business, he wore designer sunglasses, valued at thousands of dollars.

This was not an isolated failure. Under Tim Walz, widespread fraud has become a recurring pattern. The Feeding Our Future scandal exposed the laundering of federal nutrition funds, even as warning signs were ignored and whistleblowers were pushed aside. Oversight collapsed. Agencies failed. The amount of fraud in Minnesota can be tied up neatly in one sentence: Tim Walz awarded Ayan Abukar the “Outstanding Refugee Award,” and four years later, Abukar is one of thousands of Minnesotans convicted of what may be the largest case of fraud in American history.

This only exposed the central deception of Democratic governance: the idea that fraud-ridden bureaucracies are synonymous with compassion. They are not. Real compassion demands accountability, because every dollar stolen through fraud is a dollar taken from a child who needs help.

I know what government assistance is meant to do because I grew up relying on it. I was raised by my divorced mother on welfare in Harlem and later with my father in a trailer park in Oklahoma. Nothing about my childhood promised success, and the only way out was hard work. I delivered pizzas to put myself through college. I went on to serve as an Army officer stationed in South Korea on the DMZ. Five years later, I was the first in my family to begin a business career in the private sector. My life is a living case study that the promise of America is available to everyone, regardless of race or social station — if they embrace it.

That path was only possible in the United States. But I wouldn’t have been able to do that in today’s Minnesota.

Minnesota Democrats outright reject the very principles of hard work, merit, grit, and dedication. Under their leadership, fraudsters live lavishly while working families are lectured about “equity.” Agencies distribute billions of taxpayer dollars with no verification. Democrats moralize about social justice while presiding over the largest fraud scandal in American history. And unfortunately, fraud is only one symptom of a much deeper problem.

Sadly, the same Democratic ideology that tolerated corruption has also undermined public safety in our state. Under Governor Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, Minneapolis, once one of America’s safest major cities, fell into chaos. In 2020, rioting and looting turned entire neighborhoods into war zones while Walz hesitated, excused, and justified lawlessness. We witnessed politicians excuse rioting and looting for four-days while families fled Minneapolis and trust evaporated.

Let’s be honest – it’s not any better today. The Left’s open border policies that began under Joe Biden’s administration have further strained local resources and eroded confidence in the rule of law. We’re seeing violent rioters destroy businesses, fight law enforcement, and cause chaos in our streets. Meanwhile, they are encouraged and egged on by Democrat leaders. Meanwhile, crime is out-of-control and families are scared to have dinner or see a show in Minneapolis.

As a result, businesses have left the state in droves, and we have quickly become a desert for opportunity and economic growth. Taxes continue to skyrocket, and both families and small businesses leave for safe havens. They don’t have to move far. It’s not only Florida, Tennessee, or Texas; instead, they are finding refuge in the neighboring states of Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. From an economic perspective, nearly every economic indicator in Minnesota has been in free fall for a decade.

If this state were a publicly traded company, its leadership would have been fired and its stock dumped years ago.

Now, Tim Walz is stepping aside, and Minnesota Democrats want voters to believe the damage leaves with him. The sad truth is, Walz is not the exception; he is the product of a one-party system that normalized failure. This fraud did not occur in one day. It happened over years, in plain sight, while Minnesota’s legislators from both parties voted, agencies approved payments, and oversight mechanisms failed again and again.

Let me be clear — we can’t fix the problems in St. Paul by electing another legislator from St. Paul. We need someone like me, a political outsider and a successful businessman. You don’t have to look far to see how President Trump has revitalized our economy with his business background and shook up the status quo to Make America Great Again. That’s what I want to emulate in Minnesota.

If we want to dismantle the largest fraud case in American history and restore trust in our state’s government, Minnesota needs leadership fundamentally different from what Democrats have to offer. We need someone willing to audit aggressively, prosecute decisively, and dismantle corrupt systems without fear of political backlash. We need a leader who understands that compassion without accountability is not kindness, it is betrayal. Minnesota does not need another lecture from progressives. It needs a reckoning.

This November, we have a once-in-a-generation moment to elect a leader that rejects the notion of socialism – doubles down on free market capitalism and our country’s Judeo-Christian founding principles. The future of Minnesota looks bright if we choose wisely.

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Kendall Qualls is an Army veteran, business leader, and the leading Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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