Amy Klobuchar elected Minnesota's first woman governor, CBS News projects

Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar will become the first woman to serve as Minnesota governor after defeating Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth in Tuesday's election, CBS News projects.

Klobuchar will succeed Gov. Tim Walz, the two-term Democrat and former vice presidential candidate. Walz faced accusations of fraud in state programs, which his office said he was working to combat. He announced in January he would not seek an unprecedented third term, less than four months after launching his reelection campaign, and Klobuchar entered the race after his announcement.

The race was shaped by a fraud scandal in state-run social services programs. Dozens of people have been convicted of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from programs meant to provide food, shelter, health care and child care, according to The Associated Press. CBS News has reported that federal prosecutors estimate the total could top $9 billion.

The cases moved through the courts for years with little attention outside Minnesota until a right-wing influencer's video went viral late last year and drew the attention of President Trump. Mr. Trump and other Republicans have since focused on the state's large Somali community because most of the defendants are of Somali descent, a focus Walz and other local officials have criticized.

Klobuchar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. She has won each Senate race by double digits, though her margin narrowed from 35 points in 2012 to 24 points in 2018 and 16 points in 2024. She also briefly ran for president in 2020, suspending her campaign the day before Super Tuesday, and endorsing former President Joe Biden. She has repeatedly said in interviews that she will not run for president in 2028, AP reported.

Klobuchar has said her priority is lowering costs for Minnesotans, including health care, child care and housing. She also pledged to audit state government and invest in technology to detect and prevent fraud. Pointing to her career as Hennepin County's head prosecutor before the Senate, she has said she will ensure people who break the law are convicted. Her campaign also called for reducing barriers to homebuilding, improving school test scores and reducing screen time in schools.

She chose Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer as her running mate for lieutenant governor.

Demuth, the top Republican in state government, was first elected to the House in 2018 to represent a rural district outside St. Cloud. She became speaker under a power-sharing deal after the 2024 elections left the chamber evenly split between the parties. She would have been the state's first Black governor.

Demuth won the Republican primary in August over MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, whom Mr. Trump had endorsed, and Kendall Qualls, who had the state Republican Party's endorsement. Democrats have noted that Demuth sought Mr. Trump's endorsement before he backed Lindell, according to AP.

Demuth made fraud central to her campaign, urged Minnesotans who have long voted Democratic to try the Republican Party, and pledged to fight violent crime and improve education. Republicans had hoped the scandal would help end their losing streak in governor's races. Minnesota has not elected a Republican governor since Tim Pawlenty in 2006.

Through mid-October, Klobuchar had raised more than $15.5 million for her campaign, compared with $3.6 million for Demuth, according to campaign finance records cited by AP.