Amy Klobuchar

This month, Minnesota’s senior U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar, took to social media to announce she had visited every county in the state in 2026. “All 87 of them,” she posted. “I do this every year because you can’t know what people need if you don’t show up.”

Klobuchar has been showing up — and delivering — for Minnesota for 27 years as a public servant, first as Hennepin County attorney in charge of Minnesota’s largest prosecutors’ office and then in the U.S. Senate as the first woman from the state to hold the seat. Over those years, she has worked her way into Minnesotans’ hearts, always seeing us, taking note of our needs, and then going to work to get those needs met. She’s been transparent, available, and in-the-know from border to border.

This year, she’s running for Minnesota governor, not because she’s had it with D.C. or is burned out or ineffective. Quite the opposite on all counts.

“I actually love my job in the Senate. I am third in leadership (within the Senate Democratic caucus). I am ranking in agriculture,” Klobuchar said in an exclusive interview this month with the FCC Editorial Advisory Board. “But I decided, in the end, that I love our state more.”

In the Nov. 3 election, Minnesotans can love her back by sending her to the governor’s office to usher in a new era of trust, bipartisanship, and leadership. Eligible voters can cast their ballots to bring Klobuchar home, where she’s needed, and make her the first woman to serve as governor in state history.

“I want to transform our state,” said Klobuchar, a Democrat and the granddaughter of an iron ore miner. “(Expect) a different type of culture in terms of demanding accountability. … I want to get us to a better place and transform our state government.”

A transformation is needed after a tumultuous couple of years, including the assassination of House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband in June 2025, the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis just two months later, last summer’s deadly ICE crackdown, and the revelations that hundreds of millions, and perhaps even billions, of taxpayers’ dollars were fraudulently stolen from state programs that feed children, care for the elderly, rehab housing, and more. All of that followed a historic $18.5 billion budget surplus in 2023 being quickly spent, along with billions more, leading to an unacceptable $4 billion budget deficit.

Klobuchar promises a top-to-bottom audit of state government to root out fraud. She also vows to appoint new state-agency leaders and to work closely with the legislative auditor and the newly created Office of Inspector General not only to stop more fraud while punishing those responsible but to identify and aggressively pursue cost savings and efficiencies.

“We are on the right path, but there’s a lot more work to do,” Klobuchar said.

She expressed a similar sentiment regarding economic development and Minnesota’s reputation, deserved or not, for being a hard place for business. Investors need certainty and less red tape, she said.

“We have been, in my mind, too status quo (and) too resting on our laurels when it comes especially to a growth agenda. That is the No. 1 thing I am focused on,” Klobuchar said. “We are still strong in Minnesota. We have 18 Fortune 500 companies; we are third per capita. We have 500,000 small businesses. But it’s still too hard to build a house or too hard to start a business. We need to be faster. We can be better.”

Klobuchar’s Republican opponent is Lisa Demuth, an accomplished and respected lawmaker of nearly eight years and the current House speaker.

“Minnesota has so much to offer. I’m proud to be from here,” Demuth said in a separate interview with the editorial advisory board. “Democrats and Republicans can work together. Not that it’s easy, but we can, and I think people have lost sight of that.”

Klobuchar hasn’t. In her nearly 20 years in the Senate, she has earned a deserved reputation for working across the aisle. In 2022, she was ranked No. 1 by GovTrack for bipartisan bills and No. 3 for bills signed into law. In 2011, in a show of bipartisan unity, she famously sat with Republicans for the State of the Union. She proves you can be bipartisan and productive.

“Things are tough for us right now. We’ve got headwinds from Trump. We’ve got things we have to change in our state government. But what I’ve found is those moments are moments where we actually get our act together and get things done,” Klobuchar said. “That is going to be my governing principle, to bring people together again, have them in the governor’s house and really look at this as a team effort. And I'm not being a Pollyanna. How could I be? I do bills with Ted Cruz. I figure if I can do that, I can work with (anyone).”

In some regards, Klobuchar has been running for governor her whole life. Minnesotans can jump at this chance to give her the opportunity.

This Forum Communications endorsement was determined by the FCC Editorial Advisory Board based on news reporting, interviews, and other research. It was approved by FCC ownership.