United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026 (August 11 Republican primary)
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← 2024
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| U.S. Senate, Minnesota |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: June 2, 2026 |
| Primary: August 11, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
7 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Race ratings |
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Likely Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely 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 • 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 |
A Republican Party primary takes place on August 11, 2026, in Minnesota to determine which Republican candidate will run in the state's general election on November 3, 2026.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent is Tina Smith (Democrat), who was first elected in 2018.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Minnesota utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[1]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
Thirty-three of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for election, and another two seats are up for special election. Democrats hold 13 of the seats up for election, and Republicans hold 22. As of January 2026, nine members of the U.S. Senate announced they are not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. Senate elections taking place this year, click here.
This is one of 10 open U.S. Senate races this year in which an incumbent is not running for re-election. Across the country, four Democrats and six Republicans are not running for re-election — more than any year since 2012. In 2024, eight incumbents — four Democrats, two Republicans, and two independents — did not seek re-election.
This page focuses on Minnesota's United States Senate Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026 (August 11 Democratic primary)
- United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026
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
Republican primary
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota on August 11, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Christopher Brooks | |
 | Alycia Gruenhagen | |
 | David Hann | |
| Raymond Petersen | ||
 | Mike Ruoho | |
 | Adam Schwarze | |
| Michele Tafoya | ||
 | Tom Weiler | |
 | Royce White | |
 | Mark York  | |
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| = 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. | ||||
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Submitted Biography: "Mark is a seventh-generation farmer from Lake Wilson, Minnesota. He comes from a long line of farmers, teachers, and public servants. He farms 80 acres with his family and raises corn, soybeans, oats and pigs. Mark is a proud South Dakota State University Graduate, and his career spans Cargill, two startups, McKinsey, Harvard, and the White House. Mark is a PhD candidate in computer science at Harvard where his research focuses on algorithmic game theory and information elicitation. He also founded a nonprofit called Farm Yield Africa in 2016. Farm Yield Africa employs 25 people and provides tractor services, seed and fertilizer on microcredit to nearly 2,000 farm families in Ghana. Mark was selected as a White House Fellow, for which just 1% of applicants are selected, and he served in the class of 2024-2025. In the White House, his work focused on critical minerals and the defense industrial base. Mark is a two-time Ironman and speaks multiple languages."
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Minnesota
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Brooks | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Alycia Gruenhagen | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| David Hann | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Raymond Petersen | Republican Party | $949 | $949 | $0 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Mike Ruoho | Republican Party | $45 | $550 | $-136 | As of March 31, 2025 |
| Adam Schwarze | Republican Party | $822,519 | $528,790 | $293,729 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Michele Tafoya | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Tom Weiler | Republican Party | $82,240 | $26,387 | $57,613 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Royce White | Republican Party | $481,066 | $533,332 | $86,843 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Mark York | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
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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." |
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Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Minnesota in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Minnesota, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2026 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Office | Party | Signatures required | Filing fee | Filing deadline | Source |
| Minnesota | U.S. Senate | Ballot-qualified party | 2,000 | $400.00 | 6/2/2026 | Source |
| Minnesota | U.S. Senate | Unaffiliated | 2,000 | N/A | 6/2/2026 | Source |
See also
- United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026 (August 11 Democratic primary)
- United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2026
- United States Senate Democratic Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate Republican Party primaries, 2026
- United States Senate elections, 2026
- U.S. Senate battlegrounds, 2026
External links
Footnotes
