While Walz has not formally announced that he’ll seek a second term, his campaign said that he raised an additional $550,000 last month, which was not reflected in the two-year report.

“This has been a challenging year for all of us, so to know that Minnesotans continue to believe in our message of One Minnesota is truly heartening,” Walz said in a statement that echoed his 2018 campaign slogan.

His campaign also said it has hired Alana Petersen as a senior advisor. She managed Sen. Tina Smith’s 2018 campaign and was a senior advisor to President Joe Biden’ campaign in Minnesota. That announcement coincided with one from the state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party that it had hired four staffers to bolster organizing efforts for 2022.

Minnesota Republicans have been trying to soften Walz up over his handling of the pandemic. But no clear frontrunner has emerged in the GOP gubernatorial field yet. Potential candidates include MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, former state Sen. Scott Jensen, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber and former Minnesota Vikings lineman Matt Birk.