Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was elected Minnesota governor on Tuesday, defeating Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
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Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was elected Minnesota governor on Tuesday, defeating Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth in a race defined by a widespread fraud scandal in state government.
Klobuchar will replace outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, who ended his bid for a third term after a long-simmering fraud investigation into stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from state-run social services programs became a national story. She is set to be the first woman to serve as Minnesota governor.
The fraud case involves dozens of convictions tied to theft from state-run programs intended to provide food, shelter, healthcare and childcare. While the charges worked their way through the court system for years with limited attention outside Minnesota, scrutiny increased in late last year after right-wing influencer videos went viral, drawing additional attention to the state government and Minnesota’s community of Somali refugees.
Under intense scrutiny, Walz dropped his reelection campaign less than four months after announcing it, and Democrats quickly coalesced around Klobuchar. The scandal also coincided with President Donald Trump using the allegations as justification for a violent crackdown on immigrants in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area.
In her campaign, Klobuchar pledged to thoroughly audit state government and invest in new technology to detect and deter fraud. Pointing to her prior work as Hennepin County’s head prosecutor, she said she would ensure people breaking the law are convicted.
Beyond fraud, the race also focused on costs and other domestic issues. Klobuchar called for reducing barriers to homebuilding, improving school test scores and reducing screen time in schools.
Klobuchar, who is well known after about 20 years in the U.S. Senate, previously ran as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 and later endorsed Joe Biden. Through mid-October, she had raised more than $15.5 million for her campaign, compared with about $3.6 million for Demuth, according to campaign finance records.
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