A little more than two weeks after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz dropped his reelection bid, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is preparing her run. On Thursday, she filed paperwork to run in her home state, The New York Times reported.
Political analysts widely expected Klobuchar to enter the race after Walz dropped out following heightened pressure on fraud allegations in his state. Walz made his decision to drop out a day after meeting with Klobuchar and trying to push her as his successor, according to The Times.
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Klobuchar is expected to make a public announcement in the coming days, according to a source the paper spoke to.
Who else is running for governor?
The Times reported that Klobuchar is expected to easily win the primary for the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, which Democrats are known as in Minnesota. One person who was expected to run for governor was Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. However, on Tuesday, he announced he would run for reelection instead.
It’s less clear who will win the Republican primary, which has three candidates vying for the nomination.
The first is state House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who announced her candidacy in early November. Demuth said she would seek Trump’s endorsement and that her campaign would focus on state issues, such as boosting educational outcomes and reducing wasteful spending.
Doctor and former state Sen. Scott Jenson was the first to announce a run for the Republican nomination, back in July. His views on vaccines and medicine could attract supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, Axios reports. Jensen said he plans to focus on rebuilding the police, keeping politics out of schools and lowering taxes, according to the Minnesota Reformer.
Finally, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, announced his nomination in December. While he has no previous political experience, he does have broad name recognition. Lindell was a major donor to Trump’s 2016 campaign and later campaigned for him in 2020. Lindell considered running for governor in 2022 but didn’t, never giving a reason why.
Who is favored to win?
Nationally, Minnesota is a safe Democratic state, voting for every Democratic presidential candidate since former President Jimmy Carter in 1976. The state hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006.
The state has become a flashpoint in American politics after two incidents pushed Minnesota into the national focus.
In late December, YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a video about alleged fraud in Minnesota, specifically in the state’s large Somali community. Some criticized the video for being biased and racist, while others celebrated it for bringing attention to alleged crime.
The video’s allegations eventually led to Walz dropping out of the race.
In early January, Trump sent 2,000 federal agents to carry out a large-scale immigration operation. This operation was met with large protests, which eventually led to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
