Failed Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is launching a political committee aimed at rural communities despite massive fraud scandals in his home state and his recent pledge to stand with Minnesota’s Somali community.

Walz announced on Monday:

Today, we’re launching Small Town PAC.

We’re going to show up in small towns, organize in places too many people have given up on, and build power with the folks who call these places home.

If Democrats want to win in more places, we’ve got to start showing up in more places.

Walz told Politico Playbook, “Republicans like JD Vance like to portray their small-town neighbors as petty, resentful, and small-minded. I disagree. I think the problem facing small towns are Republicans like JD Vance.”

Walz added that he plans “to find some teachers, some nurses, some laborers, vets, and young people in small towns across the country who can represent their communities better than Silicon Valley can.”

Vance’s office responded, “The problem facing many small towns in Minnesota is that Tim Walz gives their money to fraudulent daycares,” a Vance spokesperson said in a statement.

The exchange comes after the 2024 campaign, when Walz and Vance faced off as their parties’ vice presidential nominees. 

Polling before the vice presidential debate found Vance was more trusted than Walz on immigration, national security, the economy, inflation, and crime. A September 2024 Senate Opportunity Fund poll found Vance held advantages ranging from three to six points on those issues.

After the October 2024 vice presidential debate, both CBS News and CNN polls found that viewers believed Vance won, though by narrow margins.

A year after taking office, President Donald Trump tapped JD Vance to lead the “war on fraud,” placing him at the center of the administration’s scrutiny of Minnesota welfare and childcare programs. Vance later pointed to allegations involving empty daycare centers and the “Quality Learing Center,” a facility highlighted after citizen journalist Nick Shirley released video showing locations that appeared to have no children despite receiving government funds. 

In January, Vance said Walz should resign, saying he either “knew about the fraud in Minneapolis” or “looked the other way.”

March’s House Oversight Committee report concluded that Walz and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware for years of widespread fraud in Minnesota’s federally funded welfare programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against whistleblowers instead of stopping the schemes.

“Testimony obtained by the Committee reveals that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison were aware of widespread fraud in social service programs, lied about their knowledge of the fraud, and retaliated against employees who dared to raise concerns,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said.

The committee’s investigation focused in part on the Feeding Our Future case. The Justice Department first charged 47 people in 2021 in the scheme, which then-Attorney General Merrick Garland described as “the largest pandemic-era fraud scheme ever identified.”

Federal prosecutors alleged that dozens of defendants tied to Minnesota’s Somali community diverted money from child nutrition programs.

At a March 28 “No Kings” protest in Minneapolis, Walz told the crowd that his administration would “never leave the side” of Somali Minnesotans.