New data shows a massive money advantage for Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the race for Minnesota governor

That amount sets a new record for a governor's campaign in the state.

Klobuchar's campaign says more than 90% of the donations were $100 or less, according to WCCO Radio political analyst Blois Olson.

"To get those small donors, it takes a lot more money to raise that kind of money," Olson explains. "You have to phone, you have to have mail, you have to have email, and to prop up her infrastructure."

Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth raised just over $226,000 during the same timeframe.

Despite that, Olson says the race between Klobuchar and Demuth, who appears at this point to be the GOP frontrunner, is closer than the money might show. Also still in the race on the GOP side is businessman Kendall Qualls. Trailing candidates Mike Lindell and Kristin Robbins are also still in the race for the GOP, among a list of lesser-known names.

"Demuth still has to get through the Republican process, but if it is the two of them, Klobuchar will have a dominant money piece," says Olson. "But if the issues don't match the electorate, you could have a place where small ball beats big ball when it comes to money."

Still, the money will play a role, especially with such a drastic difference between the two. According to Olson, Demuth currently has $540,000 on hand while Klobuchar has $3.4 million on hand.

"And then Kendall Qualls, just for context, raised $123,000 so he barely hit half of what Demuth hit," Olson adds. "And their convention is the week after Memorial Day."

Olson adds whether or not the national Republican Party gets involved in Minnesota, and helps bridge that spending gap, is yet to be determined.

"Yeah, that's the biggest question here. They're going to have to show polls that show they can win, but this will stunt national groups looking at the Minnesota gubernatorial race. They will look at other races," Olson says. "They'll look at the Senate race, they'll look at the attorney general's race, but this will stunt them looking at the gubernatorial race until they know who the Republican candidate is, and B, they have some polling and some research that says a Republican could still win the governor's race."