barrycasselman: January 2026

Monday, January 5, 2026

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Walz Withdraws. Now What?

As I have been suggesting for several weeks he would,

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has now withdrawn

from his declared candidacy for a third term in this

year’s mid-term elections.

But this is not the end of this political story.

The allegations and unfolding evidence of massive

fraud in Minnesota is a story only beginning to be

told. It was this, and charges that Walz and his DFL

administration failed to investigate this fraud for so

long that precipitated his withdrawal, but the ongoing

and expanding story will now cast dark shadows over

the entire campaign of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Party’s efforts to keep the statewide, congressional

and U.S. senate offices it now holds.

It also presents a political roadblock to the DFL’s

desire to win control of the state legislature.

The question is whether the state Republican Party

can nominate the caliber of candidates who can

win in this political environment.

The immediate question is now who will be the DFL

candidate for governor. The most mentioned name

in the wake of Walz’s withdrawal is current U.S.

Senator Amy Klobuchar. She is a popular and

well-known figure in the state, and probably would

be the most formidable DFL candidate. She has

made a role for herself in the Senate, and once ran

for president. If she still has White House ambitions,

she might feel she would be a stronger candidate

in 2028 or 2032 as a sitting governor.

At the same time, she would face the risk of losing

in what might become a GOP wave election in 2026

because of extreme voter anger over fraud. In her

last re-election, Klobuchar won by a smaller margin

than expected against a weak GOP opponent.

Other DFL candidates, especially those who now

hold statewide office, including Lt. Governor Peggy

Flanagan, Secretary of State Steve Simon and

Attorney General Keith Elliison, might find that

voters might direct their anger at them.

Flanagan is currently running for the open U.S.

Senate seat, vacated by incumbent Tina Smith,

but with Walz out of the governor’s race, she might

switch. Ellison is currently running for re-election

as attorney general, but faces some of the same

criticism as Walz did. Simon has faced criticism

for his role in pushing controversial voting issues

Republicans have several major candidates

running for governor, including Speaker of the

State House Lisa Demuth, State Rep. Kristin

Robbins and 2022 GOP nominee Dr. Scott

Jensen. Each of them would have likely defeated

Walz, but can any of them defeat Klobuchar?

The Republican slate for the open U.S. Senate

seat, and the other statewide offices so far mostly

lacks major candidates. Further, the state GOP

so far lacks the fundraising, voter ID and GOTV

capability that the DFL has had for many years.

The DFL nominee for the U.S. Senate could be

retiring 2nd District Congresswoman Angie

Craig who is untainted by the fraud scandal

and is known to be an effective campaigner.

As already noted, the GOP does not yer have a

serious candidate in this race,

Tim Walz is still governor, and there have been

many calls for him to resign. The full dimension

of fraud is yet unknown, but is now, and almost

certainly will remain, as the major issue of this

year’s political campaign in Minnesota.

The national and international media coverage of

the fraud scandals has been devastating to the

state’s self image, and voter anger is clearly

rising, but the impact of the issue on who wins and

loses in November remains the biggest political

question of all.

________________________________________________

About Barry Casselman

BARRY CASSELMAN is an author, journalist and lecturer who has reported and analyzed American presidential and national politics since 1972.

He founded, edited and published his first newspaper when he was 29. He has been a contributor to many national publications, including The Weekly Standard, realclearpolitics.com, Politico, Roll Call, Washington Examiner, The American Interest, Utne Reader, Campaigns and Elections Magazine, American Experiment Quarterly, Washington Times, The Rothenberg Political Report, Business Today, Election Politics, Business Ethics Magazine, San Francisco Examiner, Washington Insider, and American Commonwealth.

His regular op ed columns and other commentary in print, and on the internet, are distributed through the Preludium News Service. His blog ‘The Prairie Editor” has an international readership and appears on his website at www.barrycasselman.com .

He was a political analyst for WCCO-AM (CBS) for several years, for KSJN-AM (Public Radio International), and for KUOM-AM (National Public Radio). He has also broadcast on RAE in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and beginning in 2000, he produced and broadcast for Voice of America. In 2006, he presented news commentary on LBC, the independent 24-hour news radio network in London, England. He also provided election night analysis in 2006 for Minnesota Public Radio. In 2008, he returned to WCCO-AM for periodic national election commentary. Beginning in 2011, he began weekly commentary on the 2012 presidential campaign on a national radio podcast program originating in Dallas, TX.

Casselman was the original host of “Talk To Your City” on the Minneapolis Television Network, and was a frequent political commentator for KTCA-TV (PBS). In 1992 and 1994, he presented election night analysis for the Conus coast-to-coast All News Channel. In 1996, he provided live coverage from the presidential primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire for All News Channel nationwide. He has also appeared on C-SPAN. In 2008, he was interviewed by ABC-TV Evening News with Charles Gibson.

He has covered national presidential primaries, caucuses and straw polls since 1976, and attended Democratic and Republican national conventions since 1988. He has traveled throughout the United States to report on significant political events, including the national congressional debate in Williamsburg in 1996, the presidential debates, national conventions and events of the Democratic Leadership Council, Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee, United We Stand America, Reform Party, National Governors Association, NAACP, AFL-CIO, Christian Coalition, CPAC, Green Party and the Independence Party.

In 2012, he was invited to be a civilian participant in the 58th annual seminar on national security at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. Also in 2012, he was a speaker at the Jefferson Educational Society's Global Summit IV. At that event, he received the Thomas Hagen "Dignitas" Award for lifetime achievement.

From 1990-2011, he was the executive director of the non-profit International Conference Foundation, and hosted more than 500 world leaders, foreign journalists and other international visitors. At the non-partisan Foundation, he also organized four national symposia: the first on low-income housing with then-HUD Secretary Jack Kemp; the second, a highly-acclaimed conference on “Locating the New Political Center in America” with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and leading spokespersons of the Clinton administration as well as newly-emerged independent groups; the third, a symposium on public communications with then-Governor Tom Ridge, former White House press secretary Mike McCurry, Tony Blankley and other national figures; and in 2003, a symposium on homeland security with Secretary Ridge and leading local and national experts. During this time, he also organized numerous smaller conferences, tours and events for the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State for its International Visitor Program and its Foreign Press Center programs. In 2008, he organized a special program for international media and visitors attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The Foundation also sponsored programs presenting domestic and international authors and their books.

In 2007, Mr. Casselman helped create and plan the nationally-broadcast and podcast dialogue between former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at the Cooper Union in New York City, and he continued to work on related debate and public policy discussion projects in the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

Mr. Casselman has been a lecturer on public policy at Princeton University’s annual international business conferences in New York, and its regional conferences in Chicago since 2005; He also has been a guest lecturer at George Washington University, Carleton College, The Chautauqua (NY) Institution, Gannon University, Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Santa Barbara City College, University of St. Thomas, Metropolitan State University, Augsburg College, University of Minnesota, Jefferson Educational Society, and on the international voyages of the Queen Elizabeth 2, Sagafjord, Vistafjord and Royal Viking Sun. He has made presentations on journalism and the arts at Carleton College, University of Minnesota, College of St. Catherine, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Walker Art Center, Metropolitan State University, Mercyhurst College and the Brazilian Writers Union in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

His non-fiction book North Star Rising was published in 2007 by Pogo Press, an imprint of Finney Company. In 2008, Pogo Press published Minnesota Souvenir, Casselman’s history and visitor guide for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He was editor and co-author of the book Taking Turns: Political Stalemate or a New Direction in the Race for 2012, a preview of that year's national election.

He has been cited in Michael Barone’s Almanac of American Politics and in William Safire’s Political Dictionary. Casselman has invented a number of political words and phrases which are now in frequent usage, and listed in various online dictionaries.

He is also a widely-published American poet, short story writer and playwright whose work has been translated and published in Europe, South America and Asia. He is the author of four published books of literary prose and poetry. His work has been frequently anthologized. Two of his plays, in collaboration with composer Randall Davidson, have been performed by the Actors Theater of St. Paul, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Donat’s Ensemble of Wales, and by independent productions at the Union Depot in St. Paul and the Foss Theater at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He has provided original texts for two award-winning experimental films, as well as texts for other independent short films and videos.

Barry Casselman was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. with major honors from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. at the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has also studied in Paris, and attended the University of Madrid. He now lives in Minneapolis.

Monday, January 5, 2026

THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: Walz Withdraws. Now What?

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