{shortcode-45b7103f69f2641d64fb5d1c26f13f784bb14dc0}

Former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz said he was “not sure” whether the Democratic Party yet has a viable presidential candidate for the 2028 election at an Institute of Politics forum on Monday — but remained adamant it would not be him.

“I think it’s a super talented bench,” Walz said. “Do I think the person’s out there? No, I’m not sure they’re out there yet.”

Sitting before a packed crowd at the JFK Jr. Forum, Walz evaded the question from moderator Brittany Shepherd about who the most effective party messengers are, instead insisting that the party should “collectively” pose an alternative to the Trump administration.

“We should be running,” Walz said. “I don’t think an individual should be running.”

Walz appeared at the IOP almost six months after his running mate, presidential candidate Kamala Harris, suffered a dramatic loss in the 2024 election, raising existential questions about the future of the Democratic party and its leaders.

During his conversation with Shepherd, a spring 2025 resident fellow who covered the 2024 campaign for ABC News, Walz made the case that the Democratic party needed to redefine itself and reinvigorate its messaging in response to Trump’s election.

Walz, who returned to his role as governor of Minnesota following his 2024 loss, has emerged as one of the party’s de facto message-bearers, hosting town halls across the nation as part of a “listening tour.”

“Do what I can do to help define the Democratic Party as a party that’s there to protect rule of law, personal freedoms and the things we care about,” Walz said of his plans before the 2028 election cycle.

Walz said he and the party failed to do just that in 2024.

“He correctly identified their pain, and then he said he was going to fight for them, and then he picked the exact worst solution,” Walz, referring to Trump. “The first two things outweighed the results, which is a really stunning thing to think about.”

But in the face of calls for the Democratic Party to moderate and move away from cultural flashpoints, Walz defended liberal positions on social issues including diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and transgender rights.

“Diversity and inclusion is really good for us, and equity is kind of a founding principle,” Walz said. “How did we get that defined in a way that meant we were taking jobs from other people?”

“We’ve seen what their DEI looks like. It’s a pretty bunch of incompetent white dudes that are in the administration right now,” Walz added.

But Walz’s comments come just hours after Harvard announced it was renaming its Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging to “Community and Campus Life” — a sign that the school may be itself moderating as President Trump takes aim at DEI initiatives nationwide.

Even if the party revamps its messaging, Walz remained skeptical about its prospects in the 2026 midterms, saying he thought the party could take back the House of Representatives but was “very pessimistic” about its ability to reclaim control of the Senate.

Walz pointed to two Senate seats lost by the Democrats in 2024 — Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Jon Tester in Montana — as evidence that the party was fighting an uphill battle.

“If Jon Tester can’t win, you’re not going to find somebody that’s going to win the way it is Montana, right now,” Walz said. “We have to fundamentally change who we are.”

Walz said the party needed to start its 2026 campaign — and its fundraising efforts — immediately.

“Donald Trump has been running since he came down that damn escalator and never stopped,” he said. “We have to do the same thing or we’re not going to win.”

Correction: April 30, 2025

A previous version of this article misspelled moderator Brittany Shepherd’s first name.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.

—Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at tanya.vidhun@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.