Minnesota Governor 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in Minnesota.
Who is favoured in Minnesota Governor?
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What the Minnesota Governor election decides
State government decides most of what touches daily life directly: schools, roads, policing, public health, utilities regulation, and the state's share of healthcare programs. A governor's veto and budget proposal set the boundaries of what a legislature can do.
A governor signs or vetoes state law, proposes the state budget, commands the state's emergency response, and in most states shapes how elections themselves are administered. Minnesota decides this alongside its 8 House seats and a U.S. Senate seat. Governors are judged on results inside the state rather than on national mood alone, which is why governor's races often break differently from federal contests held the same day.
How Minnesota votes
Minnesota combines the Twin Cities' diversified economy with the Iron Range and a large agricultural south. It carries the nation's longest Democratic presidential streak, yet its statewide margins have often been closer than that streak implies. That backdrop is the ground any Minnesota campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2026, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Minnesota. Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican state House speaker Lisa Demuth in the general election.
Democratic incumbent Tim Walz initially ran for a third term, but withdrew in January following a scandal over fraud in state funded-social services. Following Walz's withdrawal, Klobuchar entered the Democratic primary and won the nomination with 89.7% of the vote against minimal opposition. In the Republican primary, Demuth defeated businessman Mike Lindell, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls, who was endorsed by the state party, with 43.4% of the vote.
With her victory, Klobuchar will become the first female governor of Minnesota. Republicans have not won a gubernatorial election in Minnesota since 2006. Although this was Klobuchar's narrowest victory in any of her statewide campaigns, she won by the largest margin in a Minnesota gubernatorial election since 1994, and by the largest margin for a non-incumbent candidate since 1982.
Latest coverage of the Minnesota Governor race
Minnesota Governor Election Results 2026: Amy Klobuchar WinsAmy Klobuchar, a Minnesota political trailblazer, will be state’s first female governorWho’s on the ballot in Minnesota? A guide to governor, Senate and other statewide racesWho Is Ahead in the Minnesota Governor's Race? Latest 2026 Election PollsIn reliably blue Minnesota, could Democrats do the unthinkable and lose a Senate seat?Sen. Amy Klobuchar wins the Minnesota governor’s race, extending Democrats’ hold on the stateMinnesota governor: Amy Klobuchar wins 2026 electionKlobuchar elected Minnesota governor in race shaped by fraud scandalThe rest of the Minnesota ballot
Every Minnesota House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the Minnesota state page.
Other 2026 races in Minnesota
Analysis covering Minnesota
Twenty-six states elect a senator and a governor on the same day in 2026
The overlap between the Senate class and the gubernatorial cohort is a coincidence of two unrelated calendars, and it decides where money goes.
The 2026 Senate map covers 62% of the country and 70% of the states
Thirty-five of fifty states vote for Senate this year. Weighted by people rather than states the share drops, and that gap is the design of the chamber.