Amy Klobuchar gave Minnesota Democrats reason to exhale Thursday as the U.S. senator declared her candidacy for governor in a race stirred by the sudden exit of Gov. Tim Walz in early January.
Klobuchar, who won a fourth Senate term in 2024, amassed big vote totals in every run and has a national fundraising network to draw on. She appears to have a relatively smooth path to the nomination, too, because other Democrats with higher office ambitions stood down once she emerged as a likely candidate.
“I like my job very much," Klobuchar told MPR News on Wednesday. "And Minnesota has given me this honor of serving them in the Senate. But I love my state more."
In a launch video that includes images of two Minnesotans killed during confrontations this month with federal immigration agents, Klobuchar described it as a moment “to renew our commitment to the common good” and be ready for “transformative” change.
“I’m asking Minnesotans across this state to not look down, to not look away. I’m asking you to look to each other,” Klobuchar says in a direct-to-the-camera appeal. “I’m asking you to look up to the North Star and to see that there is a better future before us.”
Klobuchar, 65, has served in the Senate since 2007. In 2020, she ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign among a crowded field of Democratic candidates.
When Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced that he would drop his bid for reelection, the idea of Klobuchar entering the race began to emerge. Walz says he met with Klobuchar ahead of his departure from the race.
Republicans know they’ll have a challenge on their hands with Klobuchar as their anticipated 2026 opposition. Some of the top GOP contenders are working to brand Klobuchar as a career politician and suggesting she’d only carry on the policies of Walz rather than change the culture in St. Paul.
“Minnesotans only need to look at her record to know that she simply cannot deliver the change that our state needs, and would be nothing more than a third term for Tim Walz,” Republican House Speaker and candidate Lisa Demuth said. “She covered up for Joe Biden, has a disastrous record as one of the worst bosses in the U.S. Senate, and stood by Tim Walz until the bitter end throughout his endless fraud scandals.”
“As governor, Klobuchar would be another rubber stamp for Tim Walz’s extreme agenda,” businessman and Republican candidate Kendall Qualls said. “I have absolutely zero faith that she’ll stop the fraud and turn Minnesota around.”
Walz has faced criticism from state Republicans to President Donald Trump over widespread allegations of social-services fraud on his watch. There is no evidence that Walz took part in the fraud or committed any other crimes, but his political opponents say that he failed to do enough to stop theft of taxpayer funds.
As a sitting governor, Walz was not facing any serious competition from other Democratic hopefuls. Yet more than a dozen Republicans are in the governor’s race, including Demuth, Qualls, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, past GOP governor nominee Scott Jensen and My Pillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell.
Klobuchar’s entrance could upend that GOP field as well, as some of the candidates reassess their chances of defeating a durable statewide official instead of the politically wounded Walz.
On Thursday, when Klobuchar filed initial paperwork to run for governor, the Minnesota Republican Party called on Klobuchar to resign from the Senate.
“Minnesota needs a governor who is all in — not a Washington insider running a gutless political audition,” Minnesota Republican Party Chair Alex Plechash said in a statement last week when she filed paperwork to build a campaign. “If Klobuchar can’t even choose which job she wants, Minnesotans can be confident she won’t have the backbone to fix the problems Democrats created.”
Former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty is among those who have said Republicans' chances at winning the governor’s seat for the first time in 20 years would weaken if Klobuchar joined the race. Pawlenty had the Minnesota GOP’s last victory in 2006 when he won a second term.
“That’s going to fundamentally change the governor’s race in Minnesota,” Pawlenty told MPR News. “She would be a very, very formidable candidate in that race and so it changes everything.”
Klobuchar, is a lifelong Minnesotan who was born in Plymouth, the daughter of a newspaper columnist father and a teacher as her mother. Her political upbringing began with an internship for then-Vice President Walter Mondale in 1980. Her first job in elected politics was as Hennepin County Attorney, making her the top prosecutor in Minnesota’s largest county.
She won the Senate seat in 2006 and burnished a reputation as a consensus seeker in Washington while making sure to tend to all parts of her state. She is known for visiting every county every year.
The main hiccup in Klobuchar’s political journey came as she ran for the White House in 2020.
Klobuchar was part of a large field of Democratic presidential hopefuls. She presented herself as a moderate choice among the Democratic nominees and ran on a platform of fighting climate change, expanding voter protections and tackling income inequality.
She struggled to appeal to Black voters and address scrutiny over her time as a prosecutor. She ended her campaign and backed Joe Biden midway through the run of state primaries.
A win for Klobuchar would mean new faces in both of Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seats. Last February, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith announced she would not seek re-election, touching off an open-seat race that could prove competitive.
Klobuchar would likely be involved in choosing her successor, but depending on the timing of a resignation the task could fall to Walz. The replacement senator would serve until a special election in 2028.
