Minnesota Governor Race 2026: Klobuchar vs. Demuth

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) faces House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R), the first all-woman major-party race for governor in Minnesota history, so the state will elect its first woman governor. Steven Young (G) is also on the ballot. Klobuchar's running mate is former Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer; Demuth's is attorney Ryan Wilson, who narrowly lost the 2022 state auditor race. Klobuchar is running on lowering health care costs, shoring up rural hospitals threatened by federal Medicaid cuts, and a full audit of state government. Demuth wants to cut income and business taxes, roll back the paid family and medical leave mandate she calls "a tax on every business," and hold agency commissioners accountable for program fraud. Fraud and public safety now dominate the race: both back a gang violence task force, but Klobuchar wants her state audit to start immediately under an independent leader, while Demuth proposes an anti-fraud task force led by Wilson and would prioritize police in state aid to cities. The two met at a Chamber of Commerce forum in Brainerd on October 19 and in a debate hosted by Fox 9 in Rochester on October 21. There, Klobuchar said the state needs "a governor who is not a rubber stamp of Donald Trump," and Demuth said Klobuchar had never "come up with a policy that she disagrees with Tim Walz on." Klobuchar had $3.5 million on hand in mid-September to Demuth's $618,000, but the pro-Demuth super PAC Restore Sanity had already spent more than $4.3 million for her and $2.7 million against Klobuchar. Markets treat Klobuchar as a heavy favorite.