Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, pledging to take on President Donald Trump while unifying the state, which has endured a series of challenges since before the federal immigration crackdown.
Klobuchar’s decision makes her a high-profile candidate and could prove to be a statewide winner as Democrats seek to hold on to the office occupied by Gov. Tim Walz. Walz, a 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate, abandoned his bid for a third term earlier this month amid criticism of mismanagement of taxpayer funds for child care programs.
“Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot,” Klobuchar said in a video announcement Thursday. “These times require leaders who are willing to stand up for themselves, but who are willing to find common ground and solve our state’s problems, rather than becoming a rubber stamp for this administration.”
Klobuchar cited President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the killing of two Minnesotans protesting by federal agents, the assassination of a state legislative leader, and a school shooting that left multiple children dead, all within the past year. He declined to directly address the ongoing fraud investigation into child care programs, which President Trump has used as a political stick.
“We believe we must stand up for what’s right and right what’s wrong,” Klobuchar said.
The senator has been one of President Trump’s most vocal critics, most recently over his immigration enforcement measures that have sparked mass protests.
The November ballot could be a hotly contested race among the 36 governorships, and several Republicans are already campaigning. Those running for the Republican nomination include My Pillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell, a 2020 election denier who is close to President Trump. Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth; Dr. Scott Jensen, former state senator and party’s 2022 gubernatorial candidate. State Representative Kristin Robbins.
immigration and fraud will be an issue
The Minnesota race is likely to test Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers’ uncompromising law-and-order approach and plans for mass deportation against Democratic criticism of the Trump administration’s tactics.
Federal agents detained children and adults who were U.S. citizens, entered homes without warrants, and engaged in violent interactions with protesters. Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and resident of Minnesota, was shot three times and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in early January. On Saturday, federal agents shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Preti during an encounter.
Meanwhile, many Democrats on Capitol Hill voted against Trump’s spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Conflicts over funding could lead to a partial government shutdown.
Trump and other Republicans will also try to pepper Klobuchar and other Democrats with questions about the ongoing federal investigation into Minnesota’s child care program and the Somali community. Trump has also repeatedly asserted widespread fraud in state government, and his administration has launched multiple investigations into state officials, including Walz. Democrats say the administration investigated, curtailed and prosecuted wrongdoing.
Klobuchar wins all over Minnesota
Klobuchar, who is in her fourth term in Washington, is a former district attorney and one-time presidential candidate who has positioned herself as a moderate and has demonstrated the ability to win across Minnesota.
The senator won re-election in 2024 by almost 16 percentage points, receiving 135,000 more votes than Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who chose Walz as her running mate. Harris beat Trump by less than 5 percentage points.
Klobuchar gained attention during Trump’s first term for questioning Trump’s judicial nominees, including current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. During Kavanaugh’s testy confirmation hearing, she asked the future judge, who was accused of sexual assault as a teenager, if he had ever drunk so much that he didn’t remember what happened. Mr. Kavanaugh retorted, “Is that so?”
The senator, who had spoken publicly about his father’s alcoholism, continued to ask questions. Kavanaugh, who was approved by a single vote, later apologized to Klobuchar.
After Trump took office, Klobuchar became one of the most outspoken members of Congress in the bipartisan investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in which Trump supporters stormed the Capitol during the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. As chair of the Senate Rules Committee, she pressed Capitol Police and administration officials for details about what authorities knew beforehand and how the mob entered the Capitol.
“It’s our duty to respond immediately to what happened,” he said after helping write a report that focused on improving Congress’ security protocols rather than Trump’s role.
Candidate for the 2020 presidential election
Klobuchar ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 as a moderate along the same political lines as Biden. She launched her campaign by standing outside in a Minnesota snowstorm, touting the “grit” and Midwestern sensibilities that underpin her political identity.
As a candidate, Klobuchar faced stories of disgruntled Senate staffers who described her as a difficult boss, but she emerged as a determined pragmatist on the crowded debate stage. She outperformed several better-funded candidates and outperformed Mr. Biden in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. But after Biden, then a former vice president, defeated them in the South Carolina primary, she dropped out and joined other candidates who narrowly followed him.
After Biden’s victory, Klobuchar would have been well-positioned to take up a Cabinet post, possibly attorney general. But the Senate is split 50-50, making it impossible for Biden to create an opening for Republicans to regain control of the chamber.
Klobuchar announced in 2021 that she had been treated for breast cancer, and in 2024 that she was cancer-free but was undergoing radiation therapy again.
There are currently four senators seeking to lead their home states. Klobuchar joins Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn and Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville. Bennett, Blackburn and Klobuchar are not seeking re-election in 2026, so they could remain in the Senate if they do not win the gubernatorial race. Tuberville is in the final year of a six-year term and will nonetheless leave the Senate in January 2027.
