Klobuchar files preliminary paperwork to to run for governor in Minnesota
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Longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar made her first move Thursday ahead of the launch of the 2026 governor’s race in her home state of Minnesota.
The senator’s first moves come just weeks after Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s stunning announcement that he would end his reelection bid amid the political fallout from a massive fraud scandal in the blue-leaning state.
Klobuchar, who was handily re-elected to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate less than 15 months ago, has filed preliminary paperwork with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.
“This is a necessary preliminary step for any candidate considering running. The senator will announce her plans in the coming days,” a source close to Klobuchar told Fox News Digital.
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Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is launching a campaign for governor in the 2026 race to replace fellow Democrat Gov. Tim Walz. (David Swanson/REUTERS)
Democratic sources confirmed that Klobuchar has received calls urging her to run since Walz announced earlier this month that he was canceling his bid for an unprecedented third term as Minnesota governor.
Sources also confirmed that the senator met with Walz, the Democratic Party’s 2024 vice presidential nominee, on the eve of the announcement to discuss his decision to abandon his re-election bid.
Klobuchar did not weigh in on her future political plans in the hours after Walz’s blockbuster news. But he said the governor “made the difficult decision to focus on his job and the challenges facing our state rather than campaigning and running for re-election.”
A day later, Klobuchar emphasized to CNN: “I love my job, I love my state, and I’m seriously considering it.”
The senator won all four Senate elections by healthy margins, including re-election in 2024 by nearly 16 points.
But Klobuchar, currently third in the Senate Democratic leadership, faces obstacles moving higher in the chamber’s party leadership.
FRAUD ELECTION FORCED WALZ TO ABANDON GOVERNOR’S RE-ELECTION BID
New York Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is the top Democrat in the upper chamber and is not expected to leave his post.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the number two Democrat in the House, is retiring from Congress, leaving a vacancy to fill the leadership hierarchy. But Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii is the expected heir to that position.
Before serving in the Senate, Klobuchar was twice elected district attorney in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populous county.
He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Klobuchar’s trip last summer to New Hampshire, the nation’s first presidential primary, fueled speculation that Klobuchar might consider another White House run in 2028.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is interviewed by Fox News Digital in Gilsum, New Hampshire, on July 11, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
Walz launched his reelection bid in September, but over the past few months he had faced a barrage of political fire from President Donald Trump, Republicans and some Democrats over massive theft under his watch as governor in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.
More than 90 people, mostly from Minnesota’s large Somali community, have been charged in what has been described as the nation’s largest Covid-era scheme since 2022. It still tabulates how much money was stolen through money laundering operations involving fraudulent food and housing programs, daycares and Medicaid services. But the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and go as high as $9 billion, the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said.
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Prosecutors said some of the dozens of people who pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds sent abroad and potentially falling into the hands of Islamist terrorists.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a news conference in Minneapolis, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
“This is on my watch, I’m responsible for it, and more importantly, I’m the one who’s going to fix it,” Walz told reporters last month as he took responsibility for the scandal.
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But the fraud scandal was overshadowed earlier this month when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Good, a Minnesota woman and mother of three who was protesting an ICE operation.
Video of the shooting went viral, sparking protests and starting a national debate over the agency’s efforts to carry out Trump’s mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. And the massive deployment of ICE agents to Minnesota this month has made the state ground zero in the political fight over the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to combat illegal immigration.
