United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026

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← 2024
U.S. Senate, Minnesota
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Minnesota
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Likely Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Likely Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, Minnesota U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th Minnesota elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in Minnesota will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on Nov. 3, 2026. Incumbent Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), who first assumed office in 2018, announced that she would not seek re-election in 2026.

As of Aug. 24, 2025, noteworthy declared and potential candidates included the following. Click here to view all of the candidates for the seat.

• Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D), who assumed office in 2019 (Declared)
• U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who has represented Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District since 2019 (Declared)
• Royce White (R), former NBA player and Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2024 (Declared)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.) gained media attention as possible Democratic candidates but have all said they will not run for the seat. Speaker of the state House Lisa Demuth (R), state Sen. Julia Coleman (R), former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) gained media attention as possible Republican candidates but have all said they will not run for the seat.

Minnesota's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives includes four Democrats and four Republicans. Minnesota's two U.S. senators—Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)—are Democrats. The state's most recent Republican senator was Norm Coleman (R), who served from 2003 to 2009.

In the six presidential elections from 2004 to 2024, Democratic presidential candidates won the state's popular vote. In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden (D) won 52% of the vote to Donald Trump's (R) 45%. In 2024, Kamala Harris (D) won 51% of the state's popular vote to Trump's 47%.

Minnesota has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. Democrats control the governorship and the state Senate. Control of the state House is split between parties.

The Cook Political Report's Jessica Taylor wrote, "While Republicans haven’t won a Senate race here since 2002, and haven’t won a statewide election since 2006, the state has shifted a bit toward the GOP over the past three presidential elections."

As of Aug. 19, 2025, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales each rated the general election Likely Democratic, while Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball rated it Lean Democratic. Click here for more information on race forecasts.

To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Angie Craig (D)
		Peggy Flanagan (D)
		Billy Nord (D)
		Alycia Gruenhagen (R)
	Submit photo	Raymond Petersen (R)
		Mike Ruoho (R)
		Adam Schwarze (R)
		Tom Weiler (R)
		Royce White (R)
		Marisa Simonetti (Unaffiliated)

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Tina Smith (D)
• Melisa Franzen (D)

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Mike Ruoho
• Royce White
• Raymond Petersen
• Peggy Flanagan
• Adam Schwarze
• Billy Nord
• Marisa Simonetti
• Angie Craig
• Alycia Gruenhagen

Voting information

See also: Voting in Minnesota

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Adam Schwarze
• Alycia Gruenhagen
• Angie Craig
• Billy Nord
• Marisa Simonetti
• Mike Ruoho
• Peggy Flanagan
• Raymond Petersen
• Royce White

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Angie Craig	Democratic Party	$2,486,330	$670,229	$1,816,101	As of June 30, 2025
Peggy Flanagan	Democratic Party	$1,368,959	$585,740	$783,220	As of June 30, 2025
Billy Nord	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Alycia Gruenhagen	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Raymond Petersen	Republican Party	$104	$104	$0	As of June 30, 2025
Mike Ruoho	Republican Party	$45	$550	$-136	As of March 31, 2025
Adam Schwarze	Republican Party	$217,632	$120,864	$96,768	As of June 30, 2025
Tom Weiler	Republican Party	$0	$0	$1,761	As of June 30, 2025
Royce White	Republican Party	$292,504	$269,464	$161,866	As of June 30, 2025
Marisa Simonetti	Unaffiliated	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Minnesota, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025	8/12/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Lean Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

Election history

The section below details election results for this state's U.S. Senate elections dating back to 2018.

2024

See also: United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2024

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Incumbent Amy Klobuchar defeated Royce White, Rebecca Whiting, and Joyce Lacey in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Amy Klobuchar (D)	56.2	1,792,441
		Royce White (R)	40.5	1,291,712
		Rebecca Whiting (L)	1.7	55,215
		Joyce Lacey (Independence-Alliance Party of Minnesota)	1.5	46,377
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	3,578

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,189,323
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Incumbent Amy Klobuchar defeated Steve Carlson, Ahmad Hassan, Ole Savior, and George Kalberer in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 13, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Amy Klobuchar	94.3	305,055
		Steve Carlson	2.9	9,535
		Ahmad Hassan	1.5	4,891
		Ole Savior	0.8	2,478
	Submit photo	George Kalberer	0.5	1,578

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 323,537
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Derek Logan (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 13, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Royce White	38.5	74,814
	Submit photo	Joe Fraser	29.3	56,909
	Submit photo	Raymond Petersen	8.4	16,237
		Alycia Gruenhagen	7.7	15,017
		John Berman	7.3	14,158
		Patrick Munro	4.9	9,444
		Christopher Seymore	2.6	5,020
		Loner Blue	1.4	2,727

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 194,326
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• David Hilbrich (R)
• Gene Rechtzigel (R)
• Mike Ruoho (R)

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota

The following candidates ran in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tina Smith (D)	48.8	1,566,522
		Jason Lewis (R)	43.6	1,398,145
		Kevin O'Connor (Legal Marijuana Now Party)	5.8	185,064
		Oliver Steinberg (Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota)	1.8	57,174
	Submit photo	Rob Barrett Jr. (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	22
		George Dennis Jr. (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	5
		Steve Carlson (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	3
		John Berman (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	2
	Submit photo	Jason Shaver (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Josh Ondich (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,261

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,209,198
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Incumbent Tina Smith defeated Paula Overby, Ahmad Hassan, Steve Carlson, and Christopher Seymore in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tina Smith	87.1	497,501
		Paula Overby	5.3	30,497
		Ahmad Hassan	3.5	20,037
		Steve Carlson	2.9	16,429
		Christopher Seymore	1.1	6,480

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 570,944 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Alexandra Marie Holker (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Jason Lewis defeated Cynthia Gail, John Berman, Bob Carney Jr., and James Reibestein in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jason Lewis	78.1	191,288
	Submit photo	Cynthia Gail	7.2	17,675
		John Berman	6.6	16,212
		Bob Carney Jr.	4.3	10,503
	Submit photo	James Reibestein	3.8	9,210

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 244,888 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Forest Hyatt (R)
• Christopher Chamberlin (R)
• Theron Preston Washington (R)
• Rob Barrett Jr. (R)

Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary election

Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Oliver Steinberg advanced from the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party of Minnesota primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Oliver Steinberg	100.0	3,275

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,275 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Legal Marijuana Now Party primary election

Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Kevin O'Connor advanced from the Legal Marijuana Now Party primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kevin O'Connor	100.0	6,996

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,996 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

2018

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Incumbent Amy Klobuchar defeated Jim Newberger, Dennis Schuller, and Paula Overby in the general election for U.S. Senate Minnesota on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Amy Klobuchar (D)	60.3	1,566,174
		Jim Newberger (R)	36.2	940,437
		Dennis Schuller (Legal Marijuana Now Party)	2.6	66,236
		Paula Overby (G)	0.9	23,101
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	931

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,596,879 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

See also

Minnesota	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Minnesota congressional delegation Voting in Minnesota Minnesota elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Amy Klobuchar (D)

Tina Smith (D)

Representatives

District 1

Brad Finstad (R)

District 2

Angie Craig (D)

District 3

Kelly Morrison (D)

District 4

Betty McCollum (D)

District 5

Ilhan Omar (D)

District 6

Tom Emmer (R)

District 7

Michelle Fischbach (R)

District 8

Pete Stauber (R)

Democratic Party (6)

Republican Party (4)

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