Tim Walz Admits He Was ‘A Little Surprised’ By Loss In First Post-Election Interview: ‘I Did The Best I Could’

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz admitted he was “a little surprised” by the presidential election defeat and is refocusing on his home state after an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful presidential election run as Vice President alongside Kamala Harris.

In his first interview since the election, Walz talked to KSTP-TV journalist Tom Hauser about the highs and lows of the campaign trail and his plans for the legislative session ahead.

“It was a privilege to do that,” Walz said of his time on the national stage. “It was a privilege to, when asked to serve, to serve with Vice President Harris. I certainly got to see America.”

The three-month whirlwind campaign came to a dramatic close on Election Day with a decisive victory for President-elect Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. Walz admitted he was caught off guard by the loss after what he felt was a promising run.

He said: “It felt like at the rallies, at the things I was going to, the shops I was going in, that the momentum was going our way. And it obviously wasn’t at the end of time. So, yeah, I was a little surprised. I thought we had a positive message, and I thought the country was ready for that.”

Hauser asked: “So you ended up being the nominee. Do you think ultimately you helped or hurt?”

Walz replied: “History will write that. It wasn’t my decision to make. That was the Vice President’s decision. You know, those, did they make the right? You know, as I said, in this campaign, when you ask the question, are there things you could have done differently? Since we lost, the answer is obviously yes.”

He added: “On this one, I did the best I could.”

Walz also recalled the August morning he got the call that Harris had chosen him as her running mate and the electrifying experience of stepping on stage together at Temple University in Philadelphia.

“And then I’m standing at the curtain with the vice president of the United States with 15 or 20,000 people in the national press out there,” he recounted. “And she turns to me and she says, well, let’s not screw this up. And we went out there.”

Watch above on KSTP-TV.