Governor of Minnesota in the context of Tim Walz

The Minnesota State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Minnesota, in its capital city of Saint Paul. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the attorney general and the office of the governor. The building also includes a chamber for the Minnesota Supreme Court, although court activities may also take place in the neighboring Minnesota Judicial Center.

There have been three State Capitol buildings. The present building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and completed in 1905. Its Beaux-Arts/American Renaissance design was influenced by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and by McKim, Mead & White's Rhode Island State House. From 2013 to 2017 the building underwent an extensive restoration. This included replacing existing infrastructure; adding new mechanical systems; replacing or repairing tens of thousands of pieces of marble on the exterior; cleaning historic paintings, murals, and sculptures; and adding safety and accessibility features.

The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, which is then subject to approval by the governor of Minnesota.

Established in 1858, the Minnesota House of Representatives has 134 members elected from single-member districts across the state. Representatives serve two-year terms without term limits, with all seats up for election every two years. The House is led by the Speaker, who is elected by members of the House, while political party leadership is governed by the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party's ticket—Donald Trump, who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and JD Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio—defeated the Democratic Party's ticket—Kamala Harris, the incumbent U.S. vice president, and Tim Walz, the incumbent governor of Minnesota.

The incumbent president, Joe Biden of the Democratic Party, initially ran for re-election as its presumptive nominee, facing little opposition and easily defeating Dean Phillips, a U.S. representative, during the Democratic primaries; however, what was broadly considered a poor debate performance in June 2024 intensified concerns about his age and health, and led to calls within his party for him to leave the race. After initially declining to do so, Biden withdrew on July 21, 2024, becoming the first eligible incumbent president to withdraw since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. Biden endorsed Harris, who was voted the party's nominee on August 5 and became the first nominee who did not participate in the primaries since Vice President Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Harris selected Walz as her running mate.

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party in 1944. The DFL is one of two state Democratic Party affiliates with a different name from that of the national party, the other being the neighboring North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party.

The DFL controls four of Minnesota's eight United States House of Representatives seats, both of its United States Senate seats, the Minnesota Senate, and all other statewide offices, including the Governor of Minnesota, making it the dominant party in the state. In the Minnesota House of Representatives, it has a power-sharing agreement with its main political rival, the Republican Party of Minnesota, following a tie in the 2024 Minnesota House of Representatives election.