On January 29, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) announced she would run for governor of Minnesota. Her announcement comes weeks after incumbent Tim Walz (D) withdrew his re-election bid, making the seat open for the first time since 2018.
Klobuchar’s entry makes her the fifth current or former U.S. senator running for governor of their state in 2026, alongside Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). This is the most senators running in one cycle at any point since 1913. The largest cycle in recent years was 2010, when four senators ran.
Klobuchar is not the first senator from Minnesota to run for governor. In 2010, former Senator Mark Dayton (D) defeated Tom Emmer (R) 44% to 43%. The other two senators were Elmer Benson and Magnus Johnson, both of the now-defunct Farmer-Labor Party. Benson, along with Klobuchar, is one of only two sitting senators to run, while Dayton and Johnson were both former senators.
Minnesota is one of 32 states to have seen a senator run for governor, and Klobuchar’s entry makes her the fourth senator from the state to run for governor. This ties Minnesota with New Jersey for the second-most senators running since 1913. Only one state, Texas, has seen more senators seek their state's governorship, with five U.S. Senators running in six different elections.
In Minnesota, three senators running in four elections won 50% of the time, making it one of 16 states where a senator running for governor won at least 50% of the time. Sen. Magnus Johnson ran twice, losing the general election in 1926 and the primary election in 1936. In the latter election, he faced off against former Sen. Elmer Benson in the primary, one of only two times in history that two Senators ran against each other in gubernatorial bids.
As a result of Klobuchar’s entry, eight senators have run for governor in the 2020s. The 1940s and 1950s saw 12 senators run in each decade, the most in any decade since the 1910s. Eight senators also ran for governor in the 1930s.