With Governor Tim Walz officially out of the 2026 gubernatorial race, all eyes now look to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar who is rumored to be gearing up for a campaign of her own.
Walz’s exit certainly scrambles the contest in a Democratic-leaning state that Republicans have insisted they can win, something they haven't done in two decades. Democrats hold 24 of 50 governor’s seats nationwide, with 36 seats, including Minnesota’s, on the ballot this year.
Klobuchar has reportedly not made a final decision, but is leaning towards entering the race according to WCCO Radio political analyst Blois Olson, who adds Klobuchar had a lot of the prep work done last year when Walz was still undecided about running.
"She's done a lot of the homework," Olson said on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar. "There might be a little bit of a twist, based on the news of the last month, but she's done this. She has a very experienced, mature team. It is very sharp. And so, I would think that no later than next week, she would make her announcement."
Olson adds there likely won't be any other candidate announcements until Klobuchar's decision is made, but he still expects other names to at least explore a run even if Klobuchar enters the race.
"So, there's plenty of news to keep going this week, and she can get some things in order, and really kind of think through the launch of this," Olson explains. "Because she is what everyone, especially DFLers, are waiting for, and nobody's gonna make a move that's a serious candidate until she makes her move."
Minnesota Republicans haven't won a statewide race since former Governor Tim Pawlenty won his second term in 2006, a time when U.S. politics, Minnesota politics, and certainly pre-Trump Republican politics was very different.
Klobuchar has easily won her four races for U.S. Senate, but those numbers have weakened slightly since 2006 when she was first elected. Still, it's clear she is the most popular politician in the state just based on results. She defeated challenger Royce White in 2024 with 56% of the vote which outperformed all other Democrats in Minnesota by a good margin. Harris-Walz won the state with 50.9%
Olson says what makes Klobuchar so difficult for state Republicans to defeat is the way she overperforms in mostly deep red Greater Minnesota, while Walz has had to lean on strong performances in the Twin Cities metro. But, Olson says, races for governor are viewed differently than a race for senate in Minnesota.
Pawlenty, for his part, sees the race as virtually a lock for Klobuchar if she decides to run. He told WCCO's Chad Hartman on Monday she's nearly impossible to beat.
"Look, on WCCO, especially with you Chad, I don't like to spin. I don't like to give you out any BS," Pawlenty explained. "I'll just tell it to you straight. If she gets in the race, she is going to be very, very formidable. it's going to take an extraordinary effort and a lot of luck to beat her in the blue State of Minnesota. Again, some of this is going to depend on what else happens for the rest of the year relative to the macro-environment, what happens with Trump. And you know, there's some possibility that mistakes can be made on the campaign trail, but she's a seasoned campaigner, obviously a cautious or measured person. She's not likely to make a lot of big mistakes. So, I'll just say this. If she gets in the race, she will be very, very formidable."
The Republican side of this race is clogged with candidates right now. Those candidates include current House Speaker Lisa Demuth (Cold Spring), current State Rep. Kristin Robbins (Maple Grove), Donald Trump loyalist and MyPillow CEO/Founder Mike Lindell, Minnesota businessman Kendall Qualls, attorney Chris Madel, and former Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann.
Demuth, talking to Vineeta Sawkar Tuesday, said the issues with fraud that have plagued Walz carry over to any Democrat who enters the race.
"Minnesota Democrats, whether they serve here in the state, or in Washington, have supported Governor Walz, and his work, both when he was running for reelection this year, but also when he was running on the national ticket," said Demuth. "We had fraud there. We had a waste of the surplus there. There is no separation in Democrats because they've supported everything Governor Walz has done, because they have not come out with either a question, or looking at it differently. So if a Democrat, and they try to distance themselves from his record, that is not something anybody will take seriously. Because they have all been lockstep, basically whatever Democrat runs, whoever they are, is just going to be a continuation, a third term of Walz."
Minnesota Republican Party Chair Alex Plechash says Klobuchar would do nothing to change what's broken in state government.
"From my perspective, Senator Klobuchar equals continuity," says Plechash.
Like Demuth, he adds it's really the same leadership, just with a Washignton D.C. address.
"She's a 20 year Washington politician," Plechash explains. "She didn't challenge Walz and his failures. She basically defended him and Minnesotans got press releases from her. They got talking points from her, but not accountability."