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Angie Craig Kicks Off Her Senate Campaign

April 29, 2025 at 6:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) has formally launched her campaign for U.S. Senate.

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Tim Walz Won’t Run for Senate

February 26, 2025 at 1:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will not run for Senate, and instead is considering running for re-election to a third term, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports.

He also won’t endorse in the Democratic primary.

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Minnesota Senate to Leans Democratic

February 19, 2025 at 1:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Sen. Tina Smith’s (D-MN) retirement prompted us to move the contest for her seat from Likely Democratic to Leans Democratic.”

“Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) has already effectively jumped into the race, though other Democrats, especially from the state’s House delegation, could also join in.”

“While Republicans have not won a statewide race in Minnesota since 2006, their primary is already shaping up.”

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen


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Tim Walz Considers Senate Bid in Minnesota

February 13, 2025 at 1:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) is considering a run for Senate next year, Politico reports.

“His consideration of the seat comes after Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced her retirement from the blue-leaning battleground on Thursday. Walz, the former vice presidential nominee, could also run for reelection as governor in 2026.”

“Already on Thursday, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan kicked off a bid with a post on social media.”

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Tina Smith Will Not Seek Another Term

February 13, 2025 at 11:12 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) announced she will not run for reelection in 2026, putting another Democratic seat in play on the Senate map.

Filed Under: 2026 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Thirsty in Minneapolis

June 13, 2024 at 10:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Royce White (R) tweeted out a map purporting to show that “crime in Minneapolis” is spinning “out of control.”

However, the map actually showed drinking fountains in the city.

Filed Under: 2024 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

GOP Candidate Faced Court Order Over Child Support

May 30, 2024 at 11:20 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Royce White, a George Floyd protest leader and former college basketball star-turned-right-wing Senate candidate in Minnesota, was ordered to catch up after he fell behind on court-mandated child support payments at least a half-dozen times from 2020 to 2023,” NBC News reports.

“White’s candidacy has generated new attention after the Minnesota Republican Party endorsed him this month at its state convention, where he won the support of two-thirds of the voting delegates.”

Filed Under: 2024 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

GOP Senate Candidate Spent Thousands on Strip Clubs

May 24, 2024 at 5:41 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“At five in the morning one week after Republican Royce White lost his 2022 Minnesota congressional primary, his campaign shelled out more than $1,200 in donor funds to a vendor 1,800 miles away not typically associated with political expenses—an all-nude strip club in Miami, Florida, called ‘Gold Rush Cabaret,’” the Daily Beast reports.

“That is just one among dozens of outlandish but previously unreported payments that The Daily Beast has identified from White’s 2022 Federal Election Commission filings. Several campaign finance experts characterized some of the expenses as potentially illegal spending.”

Filed Under: 2024 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Senate Candidate In Hospital for Emergency Surgery

October 26, 2020 at 2:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis (R) is undergoing emergency surgery Monday for a severe internal hernia, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

“The former congressman was experiencing abdominal pain and was hurried into the emergency room Monday morning for tests. Doctors determined he had a hernia, which could be life-threatening if it’s not treated fast.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Senate Candidate Said GOP Has ‘Dual Loyalties’ to Israel

September 20, 2019 at 11:32 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis (R) once said Republicans had “dual loyalties” to Israel, adding that support for the country was the result of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a “very strong American Jewish lobby,” CNN reports.

Lewis said in a February 2013 radio show that many in the party viewed the country as the “51st state.” He claimed policymakers in President George W. Bush’s administration, including former UN Ambassador John Bolton, were dual citizens of Israel and the United States.

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs Tagged With: MN-Sen

Democrats Lead In Both Minnesota Senate Races

October 22, 2018 at 8:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll finds Sen. Tina Smith (D) just ahead of challenger Karin Housley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 47% to 41%.

In Minnesota’s other Senate race, Sen. Amy Klombuchar (D) is headed for a landslide win over challenger Jim Newberger (R), 56% to 33%.

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Senate Candidate Compared Michelle Obama to a Chimp

October 15, 2018 at 11:22 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Minnesota U.S. Senate candidate Karin Housley (R) compared then-first lady Michelle Obama to a “chimp” in 2009 Facebook post, the HuffPost reports.

Housley is running against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN).

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Democrats Up Big In Minnesota

October 10, 2018 at 6:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new NBC News/Marist poll in Minnesota finds Sen. Tina Smith (D) leading challenger Karin Housley (R) among likely voters in the U.S. Senate race, 54% to 38%.

In Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D) reelection race, she leads opponent Jim Newberger (R) by 30 percentage points, 63% to 33%.

Key finding: “The poll finds that 53 percent of likely voters prefer a Congress controlled by Democrats after the November midterm elections, while 41 percent prefer Republicans.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Bad News for Minnesota Republicans

September 23, 2018 at 8:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Mason-Dixon poll in Minnesota finds President Trump’s approval rating has dropped from 45% to 39%, while 56% disapprove of his handling of the job.

“In other results, Democrats are safely ahead of Republicans in nearly every major statewide race. Rep. Tim Walz (D) leads Jeff Johnson (R) by 9 points in the governor’s race, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) is up big over Jim Newberger (R), and Sen. Tina Smith (D) leads state Sen. Karin Housley (R) by 7 points.”

“The only real bright spot for Republicans? Doug Wardlow (R) is within striking distance of Rep. Keith Ellison (D) in the attorney general contest, though still trailing by 5 percentage points, with 18 percent undecided. That’s after Ellison was accused by an ex-girlfriend of domestic abuse, which he denies.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: Minnesota, MN-Gov, MN-Sen

Bush Ethics Lawyer Will Run for Senate as a Democrat

April 30, 2018 at 7:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Richard Painter, a longtime Republican who was chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush’s White House, intends to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota this year as a Democrat,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

“Painter, a persistent and frequent critic of President Donald Trump on national cable TV news appearances and on Twitter, is expected to announce his candidacy at a Monday news conference. … [The] seat is up this fall in a special election, and [Tina] Smith has said she intends to run for a full six-year term.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Bachmann Says God Didn’t Want Her to Run

February 5, 2018 at 4:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Rep. Michele Bachmannn (R-MN) told a radio host show that after much prayer, she has decided that God does not, in fact, want her to make a bid for U.S. Senate.

Said Bachmann: “I considered it for quite a long time. From the very first day when Al Franken had announced his resignation from the U.S. Senate, I went before the Lord and it became very clear to me that I wasn’t hearing any call from God to do this.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: Michele Bachmann, MN-Sen

Bachmann Gets a Message

February 2, 2018 at 11:53 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A billboard in St. Paul, Minnesota, funded by “The Good Lord Above,” is sending former Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) the answer she was seeking.

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

Pawlenty Passes on Senate Run In Minnesota

January 17, 2018 at 8:46 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) told Fox Business that he will not run for the Senate this year in Minnesota.

Said Pawlenty: “I am very interested in public service and service for the common good, there are a lot of different ways to do that, but I’ll tell you today that running for the United States Senate in 2018 won’t be part of those plans.”

Politico: “Republican leaders have failed to secure their top-choice candidate in eight of the 10 Senate races in states that Trump won in 2016.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: MN-Sen

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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