Thomas Evenstad

Thomas Evenstad

Republican Party

Candidate, Governor of Minnesota

Elections and appointments

Next election

August 11, 2026

Education

High school

Edina High School

Personal

Religion

Born Again Christian

Profession

Activist

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign X

Personal YouTube

Personal LinkedIn

Thomas Evenstad (Republican Party) is running for election for Governor of Minnesota. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on August 11, 2026.

Evenstad completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Thomas Evenstad earned a high school diploma from Edina High School. His career experience includes working as an activist.

Elections

2026

See also: Minnesota gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on August 11, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.

General election for Governor of Minnesota

Mike Newcome is running in the general election for Governor of Minnesota on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Mike Newcome (Independent)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tim Walz (D)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Minnesota

Christopher Seymore is running in the Democratic primary for Governor of Minnesota on August 11, 2026.

		Candidate
		Christopher Seymore

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Minnesota

The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for Governor of Minnesota on August 11, 2026.

		Candidate
		Peggy Bennett
		Lisa Demuth
		Thomas Evenstad
		Scott Jensen
	Submit photo	Jeff Johnson
		Patrick Knight
		Brad Kohler
		Mike Lindell
	Submit photo	Chris Madel
		Phillip Parrish
		Kendall Qualls
		Kristin Robbins

---

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Thomas Evenstad completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Evenstad's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm Thomas Evenstad, born in Springfield Illinois and raised from age 3 in Edina, Minnesota. I'm a staunch Fiscal Conservative running to Make Minnesota Minnesota Again by Deporting Illegals, Safeguarding Children and Destroying Gangs.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Safeguarding Kids by Hardening Soft Targets like Schools and Churches and destroying Gangs.
• Make Minnesota Minnesota Again by deporting illegal aliens.
• Prosecuting Fraud and Corruption are going to be priorities under my Evenstad Administration.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Criminal System, Corrections, Child Protection & Election Integrity.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My Dad Virgil Evenstad and my friend Andrew Dodds. Loving, kind & giving of themselves.Sav

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, Trust, Character, Integrity, Courage and Wisdom. Christian principles.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Service & Helping Others. Protection the State's Citizens. Holding criminals accountable. Lifting people up and improving citizens quality of life.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Saving lives

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Watergate. 8 years old.myb

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Janitor. 2 years

What is your favorite book? Why?

Bible. It's God's word.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Batman

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Wrongful Conviction

Governors have many responsibilities, which vary from state to state. Which of those do you personally consider the most important in your state?

Public Safety by far. No contest.

Different states require governors to have different degrees of responsibility for the state budgeting process. If it were your choice, what do you believe is the appropriate degree of gubernatorial involvement with this process in your state?

As Governor, I should be heavily involved and have authority to make decisions regarding the State's budget.

In most states, governors have the power to make line-item vetoes. If that is true in your state, what would be your philosophy for how and when to use this power?

With discretion when absolutely necessary.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

Cordial, Working together to solve the State's problems and help people.

What do you love most about your state?

The Lakes

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Public Safety, Illegal aliens, Trans Violence, Political Strife

Under what circumstances should the governor of your state be able to use emergency powers?

Extremely rare circumstances in which there's no other option to Safeguard Citizens.

Would a state ballot initiative process be good or bad for your state?

No

A governor is the top executive authority in his or her state. What does that mean to you?

Tremendous responsibility and tremendous opportunities to help my fellow Minnesotans.

Candidates hear many personal stories from voters. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching or memorable?

Yes

What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

Pioneering GPS for sex criminals in 2003.

What role should your state’s government have in the development or use of artificial intelligence?

Limited but involved. Ensuring AI isn't used in criminal or nefarious purposes.

What legislation would you want to sign related to election administration in your state?

In Person Voting only --ON mail in 🗳️ ballots.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

See also

2026 Elections

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Government

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Candidate

Governor of Minnesota

Website

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Footnotes

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