Amy Klobuchar is Minnesota’s next governor. What happens to her Senate seat?
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Amy Klobuchar’s victory in Minnesota’s governor’s race is a two-for-one proposition: She’ll be the state’s next leader and a new person will be chosen to backfill the U.S. Senate seat Klobuchar leaves behind.
Klobuchar won the governor’s race over Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth.
How does Klobuchar’s seat get filled?
When a U.S. Senate seat becomes vacant, the governor of Minnesota appoints a temporary senator until a special election can be held, according to state law. Whether current Gov. Tim Walz or Klobuchar makes the appointment will depend on when Klobuchar resigns her seat. Klobuchar will be sworn into the governor’s office on Jan. 4.
Walz could signal his choice between now and Klobuchar’s inauguration, but he can also defer that appointment to Klobuchar once she’s inaugurated. In turn, Klobuchar can also wait until right before she’s inaugurated to resign from the Senate.
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Klobuchar’s appointment of someone to fill her own Senate seat could be her first act as governor.
Who are the most likely candidates?
With both U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and Klobuchar leaving Congress, Minnesota is losing a combined 28 years of experience in the Senate.
Klobuchar serves as ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and previously chaired the Rules and Administration Committee; Smith was a leader on health and human service and environmental issues.
“I suspect that whoever is appointed will be someone with a lot of expertise about the policy making process, about Minnesota as a state,” said Kathryn Pearson, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. “Perhaps someone who has been elected to statewide office, perhaps someone who has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Someone with that experience who will be ready to go.”
Possible contenders could be former U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who was defeated in the DFL Senate primary by Peggy Flanagan, U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison and Secretary of State Steve Simon. Other current or former elected officials, including big-city mayors, are also possible picks.
Klobuchar has been coy about saying who she would want to succeed her in the Senate.
Walz, a former congressman, is eligible as well. But he said earlier this year he would “rather eat glass” than be appointed to the U.S. Senate.
When will someone be elected to the seat?
State law requires a special election for U.S. Senate to be held the November following a vacancy, which means November 2027.
The governor’s appointee will be the incumbent in the election, but that person will have less than a year’s worth of experience to run on. Whoever wins the November 2027 election will serve out the remainder of Klobuchar’s term, which ends in January 2031.
It’s also possible that this will be the only U.S. Senate seat up for election in 2027, which could intensify focus and money flowing into the race.
Republicans with designs on running would have to get going fast because they’ll need to raise money and potentially navigate a multi-candidate field. Expect many sitting officeholders to give it a look because they wouldn’t have to give up their current seat to take a chance.
“I think there would be a lot of national attention,” Pearson said. “It will be all about turnout because getting voters to the polls in an off-cycle is the challenge.”
Has this happened before?
Tina Smith was the most recent Minnesota senator appointed to the office. Smith, who was serving as lieutenant governor, was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton in 2017 after Al Franken resigned his seat amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denied.
The stakes were different then.
Even though Smith only had a year under her belt before running in the 2018 special election, that election took place during the midterms. In that election, turnout was higher than normal and a third of the U.S. Senate was on the ballot nationwide. Smith beat her opponent, Republican state Sen. Karin Housley, by 10 percentage points.
There is another famous instance in Minnesota that stretches back into the 1970s. After Sen. Walter Mondale resigned to become vice president, then-Gov. Wendell Anderson resigned from his office in late 1976 and gained an appointment to the Senate.
It didn’t end well for him because Minnesota voters tossed him and most other Democrats from statewide office in the 1978 election that became known as the “Minnesota massacre.”
Later in life, Anderson acknowledged making a colossal mistake.
"I played my political hand very poorly," he said.
