Minnesota GOP Bid to Launch Impeachment Probe of Walz, Ellison Fails

Republicans’ first step toward an impeachment probe of two top Minnesota Democrats—the governor and attorney general—ended in a tie vote along party lines April 15, killing the measure.

The vote at the Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, came after GOP lawmakers introduced resolutions to impeach Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, who have been under fire for the state’s multibillion-dollar government-fraud scandal.

But because impeachment procedures aren’t specified in the state Constitution, lawmakers needed to set a framework for any such probe, said Republican Rep. Harry Niska, chair of the House rules committee that was considering the proposal.

The resolution would have crafted a structure for the Walz and Ellison impeachment inquiries and “set a precedent for the future,” Niska said. While Ellison is seeking another term in office, Walz abandoned his reelection bid earlier this year.

Matt Gehring, director of research for the state’s House of Representatives, testified that the most recent Minnesota impeachment attempts occurred more than a century ago. Those involved a pair of judges and a state treasurer in the late 1800s.

Advocating for impeaching Ellison, Republican Rep. Ben Davis said: “We have an historic amount of fraud taking place in our state. Historic actions are warranted.”

Republican Rep. Mike Wiener said Walz should be impeached over repeated audit-report findings and whistleblowers reports of retaliation.

“This was not a single incident. It was a pattern,” Wiener said.

Both Walz and Ellison have defended their actions, including during a congressional hearing in March.

At that time, Walz repeatedly denounced fraud, saying, “One dollar is too much.” Just prior to that testimony, he had unveiled a plan to combat fraud. His proposal included using artificial intelligence “to identify suspicious billing earlier,” and expanding staffing and power for state investigators handling fraud and other financial crimes. Lawmakers have been advancing several proposals in line with his recommendations.

For his part, Ellison said his office has “worked tirelessly to hold fraudsters accountable,” winning 300 Medicaid-fraud convictions and recovering $80 million in judgments and restitution.

Republican Rep. Isaac Schultz said the serious situation facing Minnesota is unlike any since its founding in 1858. Lawmakers are duty-bound to investigate, he said.

“To my friends across the aisle: If you don’t want to join us in demanding accountability, let that be your legacy—that you will allow any administration of any political stripe to not enforce the laws that we pass,” Schultz said.

Democratic Rep. Sydney Jordan dismissed the resolution on impeachment investigations as “dumb.”

“I don’t understand what we’re doing here,” she said, accusing Republicans of pulling “a political stunt” instead of concentrating on improving health care, housing affordability, and other conditions that affect people’s daily lives.

Republicans said the public’s demand for answers about fraud, instead of political animosity, drove their concerns over Walz and Ellison.

Following discussion among lawmakers and testimony from four citizens, eight Republicans voted in favor of the impeachment-process framework while eight Democrats voted against it. Therefore, the proposal failed.

Democratic Rep. Michael Howard predicted that outcome, calling the measure “a bill that’s absolutely going nowhere, dead on arrival.”

Noting that the vote was being held on the day when 2025 state and federal taxes were due, resident Jodi McCarthy testified that Minnesotans “feel like tax slaves” forced to pay taxes that benefit fraudsters.

Faye Bernstein, a 20-year employee of the state Department of Human Services—where many of the state’s fraud problems are centered—said she has “only voted for Democrats” so it saddened her to advocate for Walz’s impeachment.

When Bernstein first came forward in 2019 with concerns about potential fraud, she expected to be thanked. Instead, “the messenger gets shot,” she said, alleging that department heads called her “incompetent” or even “racist” because some of the suspected fraud was among ethnic minorities.

Employees of other agencies told her that the fraud and retaliation are continuing, Bernstein said, “as recently as last Monday.”

Republican Rep. Jim Nash repeatedly asked, “Where does accountability begin here in the state of Minnesota?”

He said Democrats were “deflecting” from the issues rather than fully investigating Walz, Ellison, and the fraud that occurred under their watch.

“You’ve heard from all stripes of Minnesotans that said this is wrong,” Nash said, adding that people are demanding that lawmakers “do something meaningful, not just deflect this away.”