Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Monday he had “zero sadness and zero regret” in ending his re-election campaign before denouncing “political actors seeking to take advantage” of his state’s widening fraud scandal.

“In September, I announced that I would seek a historic third term as Minnesota’s governor, and I have every confidence that if I gave it my all, we would win the race,” Walz, 61, told reporters. “But as I reflect on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all.”

“Every minute that I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who want to prey on our differences,” the Democratic governor added.

Walz declined to take questions from reporters, but in his five-minute remarks affirmed that he was “concerned about fraud in our state government” — while later tearing into President Trump and “his allies in Washington” and “conspiracy-theorist, right-wing YouTubers” for “political gamesmanship.”

“We cannot effectively deliver programs and services if we can’t earn the public’s trust,” the governor said. “We’ll win the fight against the fraudsters, but the political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder.”

Walz had been running virtually unopposed for the Democratic nomination in his state. Tim Pawlenty was the last Republican to be elected Minnesota governor in 2002, leaving office in 2011.

Trump, members of his administration and Republicans in Congress have been investigating accusations of widespread fraud in the Land of 10,000 Lakes — with prosecutors suggesting at least $9 billion may have been stolen since 2018.

On Wednesday, several Minnesota GOP lawmakers will testify before the House Oversight Committee about the allegations.

“Massive fraud of taxpayer dollars occurred on Tim Walz’s watch. He’s either complicit in this theft or grossly incompetent in preventing it,” Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement Monday, calling for the governor to publicly testify as well on Feb. 10.

“Though Tim Walz is not running for governor again, he cannot run from accountability,” added Comer, whose panel has demanded records from Minnesota officials overseeing the federal funding distribution.

“The American people deserve answers, and they deserve them now.”

YouTuber Nick Shirley sparked the national controversy after trying to visit 10 Minnesota day care centers that took $111 million in federal funding — but appeared to be either closed or not taking care of any children.

Shirley’s more than 40-minute video, posted on the video platform, X and other social media accounts, has racked up millions of views and prompted relentless inquiries from the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department and GOP lawmakers.

Many have highlighted the state’s past fraud scandals such as one involving Somali-linked nonprofit Feeding Our Future — which bilked $250 million before prosecutors brought charges in 2022.

Those indictments resulted in dozens of convictions after fraudsters used their ill-gotten gains for luxury cars and real estate investments — including some in countries as far away as Kenya.

First Assistant Minnesota US Attorney Joe Thompson claimed in a Dec. 18 news conference that billions of dollars were skimmed from 14 state-run programs meant for child care, nutrition, health care, housing and other services.

“The magnitude cannot be overstated,” Thompson told reporters. “What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud.”

At one point in his address, Walz accused “right-wing YouTubers” of “breaking into our day cares” and “demanding access to our children.”

“We’ve got the president of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on,” he also said, referencing attacks on nonprofits linked to the community in the Twin Cities. “It’s disgusting and it’s dangerous.”

The governor’s only link between the fraud accusations and his own run for a third term in Minnesota came when he said, “Election years have a way of ramping up the politics at a time when we simply can’t afford more of that in Minnesota.”

“We can work together to rebuild the public’s trust and make our state stronger,” he concluded.

“But make no mistake about it, if Republicans continue down the path of abusing power, smearing entire communities, and running their own fraudulent game at the expense of Minnesotans, I will fight back with everything that I have.”