OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
4:32 PM – Thursday, January 29, 2026
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar has formally entered the 2026 gubernatorial race in Minnesota, three weeks after incumbent Democrat Governor Tim Walz dropped his reelection bid amid a massive fraud scandal.
Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who was re-elected to a fourth six-year term in the Senate fifteen months ago, made the announcement on social media, attaching a video that begins: “Minnesota, we’ve been through a lot.”
“The killings of Renee Good, a mom of three, and Alex Pretti, a nurse who took care of our veterans,” were among the issues Klobuchar listed in the video, as well as “3,000 ICE agents on our streets and in our towns sent by an administration that relishes division.”
Following the discovery of extensive fraud involving businesses within the Somali community, the Trump administration deployed thousands of federal immigration officers to Minnesota. This surge in enforcement sparked a wave of intense anti-ICE protests across the state.
Amid these demonstrations, a confrontation on January 7th turned fatal when Renee Good and her partner, Rebecca Good, followed ICE agents during an operation. While Renee was parked across a street, agents ordered her to exit her vehicle. However, she instead accelerated toward them, striking one officer. An agent then opened fire through her windshield, killing her. The injured officer was hospitalized with internal bleeding.
Tensions also escalated further last week after Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, 37, during a physical struggle. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a photo of a firearm and stated Pretti “violently resisted” their attempt to disarm him, the incident has fueled further public outcry.
These events have become a focal point for Senator Klobuchar, who recently made her opposition to federal immigration enforcement a central pillar of her gubernatorial campaign announcement.
“I’m running for every Minnesotan who wants ICE and its abusive tactics out of the state we love,” Klobuchar said as the video showed footage of large protests on Minnesota streets.
She also claims she will “fix” the massive fraud occurring in the state.
“I don’t like fraud or waste in government. That’s why I went after crime as county attorney. I will make sure the people who steal taxpayer money go to jail and root out the fraud by changing the way state government works,” said the Congresswoman.
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) made a statement in response to Klobuchar’s announcement, calling her a “failed presidential candidate.”
“Not only is Amy Klobuchar going to have to answer for fellow Democrat Tim Walz’s blatant mismanagement that left Minnesota taxpayers being swindled out of billions of dollars, she has to answer for her own record, which is going to prove a tough task,” RGA Communications Director Courtney Alexander stated. “In the Senate Klobuchar has a record of literally zilch except causing rampant inflation, putting criminals over law-abiding citizens, and calling for higher taxes. Simply put, Amy Klobuchar has already failed Minnesota and Minnesotans can’t afford any more incompetent governance.”
Klobuchar ran for president in 2020, promising a pathway to universal (taxpayer-funded) healthcare and investments in infrastructure, among other platform items. After announcing her bid on February 10, 2019, she rescinded it on March 2, 2020, following poor results in the South Carolina primary. She then endorsed former President Joe Biden.
It has been 20 years since Minnesota’s last Republican gubernatorial victory with former Governor Tim Pawlenty, who won his reelection in 2006.
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