Minnesota GOP recruits an upgrade for Senate but still faces a daunting race
It's not just the general election: Can a self-described "pro-choice Republican" win a primary?
David Nir and Jeff SingerJan 22, 2026
Former sportscaster Michele Tafoya announced Wednesday that she would run for Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat, a move that gives Republicans a credible candidate for what remains a difficult race.
The GOP’s Senate campaign arm quickly backed the new candidate, with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott praising her as “the only candidate with the common-sense leadership Minnesotans are desperately craving.”
Tafoya, who worked as a sideline reporter for NBC’s Sunday Night Football for more than a decade, entered the race almost a year after Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced her retirement. Several Republicans entered the race to succeed Smith throughout 2025, but none of them have impressed powerful conservative groups.
The most recognizable Republican competing against Tafoya in the Aug. 11 primary is former NBA player Royce White, a far-right extremist who played just three games for the Sacramento Kings in 2014 and badly lost his bid for the state’s other Senate seat in 2024.
The field also includes retired Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze and Navy veteran Tom Weiler, who have both struggled to raise money, as well as former state GOP chair David Hann, who was ousted from his leadership post following the 2024 elections.
But while Tafoya, who has not run for office before, gives national Republicans an alternative to this underwhelming lineup, she’ll still have a tough time winning a general election.
Minnesota Republicans last won a statewide contest in 2006 when Gov. Tim Pawlenty narrowly secured a second and final term. While the GOP has come close to breaking that long losing streak several times over the ensuing two decades, they’ve yet to come out on top.
ICE’s ongoing operations in and around Minneapolis also could hinder the GOP in a state that Donald Trump lost in all three of his campaigns.
Tafoya did not focus on the crisis—including the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent—in her launch video. The candidate instead showed footage of demonstrators surrounded by smoke as she narrates, “The pressure is mounting again, and the stakes could not be higher.”
Tafoya later addressed Good’s death in an interview with NOTUS, saying, “What happened to Good was awful. … It should not have happened.” The candidate, though, argued that Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who are both Democrats, have made the situation worse with their denunciations of ICE.
Tafoya, who identifies as “a pro-choice Republican,” also predicted that her stance on abortion would not be a liability in her primary. She told the site, “There’s more room than people realize” for Republicans who label themselves as she does.
Democrats have a smaller, but more closely watched, primary this summer that pits Rep. Angie Craig against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
Craig finished September with nearly $3 million in the bank, which was more than three times the $836,000 that Flanagan reported having available. Craig’s campaign has since announced that she ended last year with $4 million banked, while Flanagan has not yet publicized her totals for the fourth quarter. (Updated reports are due with the FEC on Jan. 31.)
The congresswoman, who flipped a GOP-held House seat in 2018, has also pitched herself as a stronger candidate for the general election. Craig responded to Tafoya’s entry with a video in which she said that “Democrats can’t afford to nominate someone who’s never won a competitive election on her own.”
Flanagan, who was elected statewide twice as Walz’s running mate, has a different read on the race. The lieutenant governor has campaigned as a progressive alternative to Craig, who has embraced a more moderate image. Flanagan has highlighted her opponent’s vote for the Laken Riley Act, which empowers the Trump administration to deport undocumented immigrants who haven’t been convicted of criminal charges.
Flanagan likewise reacted to Tafoya’s decision to run on Wednesday by arguing that she, rather than Craig, would present a stronger contrast in a general election.
“Minnesotans are sick and tired of folks who enable Trump’s agenda -- on both sides of the aisle,” Flanagan tweeted. “I’m ready to defeat Michele Tafoya and the MAGA agenda in November.”
Morning Digest: Minnesota GOP recruits an upgrade for Senate but still faces a daunting race
It's not just the general election: Can a self-described "pro-choice Republican" win a primary?
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