Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler said Monday that Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's announcement that he was not seeking reelection will not impact her department's investigation into alleged fraud in the state.

Walz made the announcement earlier Monday, in which he cited large-scale fraud scandals involving billions of dollars in misused federal and state program funds and partisan political backlash, as the chief reason he was not seeking a third term.

The SBA is investigating alleged fraud in the state's Payment Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans program, which were both established during the COVID-19 pandemic to help struggling Americans.

"The Governor’s announcement today changes nothing," Loeffler said on X. "We will continue to go after fraud across EVERY state and work with law enforcement to put criminals in jail. We will continue to hold officials accountable for their role in opening taxpayer-funded programs to lying, stealing, and cheating." 

Minnesota has also been accused of allowing widespread fraud schemes to infiltrate other publicly funded programs, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, stealing millions of taxpayer dollars.

Walz has admitted that fraud in his state is a serious problem, but he has not been charged with any crime or been directly implicated in any illegal activity.  

"Make no mistake: We should be concerned about fraud in our state government," Walz said Monday. "We cannot effectively deliver programs and services if we can’t earn the public’s trust. That’s why, over the past few years, we’ve made systemic changes to the way we do business.

"We’ve gone to the legislature time and again to get more tools to combat fraud," he continued. "We’ve fired people who weren’t doing their jobs. We’ve seen people go to jail for stealing from our state. We’ve cut off whole streams of funding, in partnership with the federal government, where we saw widespread criminal activity. We’ve put new locks on the doors of our remaining programs, and we’ve hired a new head of program integrity to make sure those locks can’t be broken."

Walz added that it was ultimately up to his administration to crackdown on the fraud, though he welcomed the federal government's assistance despite Republican rhetoric, and that he was dropping his bid to focus on fighting fraudsters.

"Every minute 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 prey on our differences," Walz said. "So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work ... Minnesota has to come first – always."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.