Huge sums of money are flooding races for top Minnesota statewide and legislative offices as the battle for state Capitol dominance rushes toward a crucial final month.
Minnesota’s race for the open governor’s seat is attracting many millions of outside group activity, led by a Republican-aligned group that has already spent $7 million and has the same amount ready to deploy. Democratic spending has also picked up in that race and others down the ballot.
The governor candidates themselves, DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar and Republican nominee Lisa Demuth, have a wide disparity in fundraising activity.
Klobuchar, a U.S. senator in her fifth statewide race, has raised more than $13 million this year and had $3.5 million on hand as of Sept. 15. Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, has raised about $2.6 million this year; that includes $1.3 million from a public campaign subsidy. She had $618,000 available to spend.
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Candidates have limits on contribution amounts that don’t apply to the outside groups, known as political funds, that aren’t allowed to directly coordinate with the campaigns.
Restore Sanity, a GOP group that sprang up early this year to support Demuth’s candidacy, is the biggest spending group in the race. Its report shows the group has scooped up $14 million, almost all of it from a national group that is largely funded by Wisconsin manufacturing magnate Richard Uihlein, according to the Minnesota Reformer and other outlets that have examined the group’s finances.
Restore Sanity had already devoted more than $4.3 million toward boosting Demuth and $2.7 million against Klobuchar, primarily through digital and television advertising.
Several DFL-aligned groups are also active in the governor’s race. The Alliance for a Better Minnesota had spent $1.3 million in digital ads critical of Demuth that appeared on online and streaming service platforms. The DFL Party spent about $757,000 through mid-September on ads and materials to prop up Klobuchar.
Other groups are in the fray as well.
Not just governor’s race
DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison’s bid for a third term in a race against Republican lawyer Ron Schutz is also attracting millions.
Ellison has raised about $1.3 million this year and had $634,000 in reserve for the stretch run. Schutz took in about $1.1 million and had most of it available to use for the final six weeks.
But the outside activity is a significant factor.
A GOP-funded group called Minnesotans for Justice has spent more than $2 million on ads and text messages critical of Ellison. Other Republican groups are spending in the race as well.
Democrats aren’t letting it go unanswered, with the Alliance for a Better Minnesota unloading $1.8 million against Schutz through television and digital ads.
Control of the Legislature is also a big prize on November’s ballot. Candidates for House and Senate have several more weeks before their next campaign finance report deadline.
But party caucus and outside group spending highlights the seats seen as up for grabs.
Democrats enter the election with a 34-33 Senate edge and the election could break a 67-67 House tie between the parties.
Among DFL incumbents, Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown appears to be the top target. One group, Advance Minnesota, has already spent $480,000 against the first-term senator who won by a slim margin in 2022. Another $300,000 in attacks have been lodged by Renew Minnesota, which has gotten a substantial amount of money from a national Republican group focused on state legislative campaigns.
The DFL Senate Caucus has deployed $78,000 on behalf of Hauschild.
Republicans and their allies are also spending in support of Hauschild’s opponent, Andrea Zupancich. She’s the current mayor of Babbitt and narrowly lost her bid for the seat last time.
Other DFLers feeling the barrage include Sens. Judy Seeberger of Afton, Aric Putnam of St. Cloud and Rob Kupec of Moorhead.
For Republicans, several suburban seats are at risk with hundreds of thousands of dollars already spent for or against incumbent Sens. Julia Coleman of Waconia, Jim Abeler of Anoka and Michael Kruen of Blaine.
Open seats in Maple Grove and Rochester also loom large.
A larger group of Minnesota House seats are seen as competitive, with retirements adding more uncertainty to the dynamic.
