Overview
- The two leading governor candidates met in a Minnesota Chamber forum in Brainerd on Monday and will debate again in Rochester on Wednesday, giving voters a direct comparison with less than two weeks before Election Day.
- Both nominees made anti-fraud pledges but proposed different remedies: Amy Klobuchar called for a day‑one, top‑to‑bottom audit and an independent coordinator for agency reviews, while Lisa Demuth pledged to fire state commissioners and create a state anti‑fraud task force led by her running mate.
- Klobuchar said she would have detected the Feeding Our Future fraud earlier and said she helped secure extra federal prosecutors to handle the prosecutions after the scheme surfaced.
- In the U.S. Senate race, GOP nominee Michele Tafoya is publicly keeping President Trump’s endorsement at arm’s length as she criticizes DFL governance and tries to appeal to independents in a race polling within the margin of error.
- The fraud probes that began in 2022 have reshaped both statewide contests, added pressure to a looming multibillion dollar budget shortfall, and left turnout and late spending as likely deciders in tight races.