Overview
- Amy Klobuchar won the open governor’s race on Nov. 3 with about 55.5% of the vote to Lisa Demuth’s 42.6%, becoming the state's first woman governor.
- She has launched transition work that includes a 14-person volunteer team chaired by Cindy Jesson, a public transition website, and the modest $162,000 statutorily limited transition budget.
- Klobuchar announced a top-to-bottom independent audit of every state agency and plans to appoint a senior independent leader to coordinate with the inspector general and the Office of the Legislative Auditor to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
- Her policy priorities include lowering health and prescription costs, building 100,000 homes with private partners, expanding apprenticeships, pursuing gun safety legislation, and drafting a two-year budget that keeps her no-new-taxes pledge.
- Klobuchar is expected to resign her U.S. Senate seat before taking the governor’s oath on Jan. 4, 2027, which will trigger a temporary appointment and a later special election and could affect Senate seniority; the result also underscored a strong urban–rural split in Minnesota voting.