Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar faces Republican state House speaker Lisa Demuth in Tuesday’s election for Minnesota governor, a race shaped by a widespread fraud scandal.
The winner will replace outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats’ most recent nominee for vice president, who ended his bid for a third term after the fraud investigation into stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from state-run social services programs exploded into a national embarrassment.
Klobuchar is well known after two decades in the Senate, has won four statewide elections by double-digit margins, faced no serious opposition in the Democratic primary and raised more than four times as much money as Demuth — factors that make her the front-runner in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006.
But Republicans think sustained attention to the fraud scandal, which has angered many Minnesotans, gives Demuth a path to end their party’s losing streak.
The winner will be Minnesota’s first female governor. Demuth would also be the state’s first Black governor and potentially the first Black female governor in the country. Keisha Lance Bottoms, another Black woman, is running for Georgia governor.
Fraud is the race’s defining issue
Dozens of people have been convicted of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from state-run social services programs meant to provide food, shelter, healthcare and childcare to people in need.
Charges worked their way through the court system for years with little notice outside Minnesota until late last year, when a right-wing influencer’s videos went viral and drew the attention of President Donald Trump. The president trained his ire on the state government and Minnesota’s community of Somali refugees.
Under intense scrutiny, Walz dropped his reelection campaign less than four months after announcing it, and Democrats quickly coalesced around Klobuchar.
The president last winter used the scandal as justification for a violent crackdown on immigrants in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, galvanizing the liberal opposition to him.
Klobuchar pledged to thoroughly audit state government and invest in new technology to catch and prevent fraud. Pointing to her pre-Senate career as Hennepin County’s head prosecutor, she says she will ensure people breaking the law are convicted.
Demuth urged Minnesotans long accustomed to voting Democratic to give the Republican Party a try, saying the fraud scandal shows the status quo isn’t working.
Education, crime also get attention
Aside from tackling fraud, Klobuchar focused on addressing rising costs. She called for reducing barriers to homebuilding, improving school test scores and reducing screen time in schools.
She ran for president in 2020 before stepping aside to endorse Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination. She has repeatedly told interviewers that she won’t run in 2028, when Democrats are expected to have a crowded primary field.
Demuth is the top Republican in state government. First elected in 2018 to represent a rural district outside St. Cloud, she became House speaker under a power-sharing deal after the 2024 elections left the chamber evenly split between the parties.
She has pledged to fight violent crime, highlighting in particular acts of violence committed by Somalis, and to improve education.
Democrats have tied her to Trump, noting she sought his endorsement in the Republican primary before he backed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.
Through mid-October, Klobuchar had raised more than $15.5 million for her campaign, a commanding advantage over Demuth’s $3.6 million, according to campaign finance records. Without a serious Democratic challenger, Klobuchar was able to hoard cash ahead of the August primary while Demuth was focused on winning in a crowded Republican field.
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Associated Press
