Minnesota Senate 

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Latest news on the Minnesota Senate (the Minn. Senate), covering the Minnesota Senate race, Democrat Peggy Flanagan, Republican Michele Tafoya, senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, the Klobuchar Senate seat after her election as governor, midterms and election results, the state Senate in St. Paul, and politics across Minneapolis, the Gopher State and the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Minnesota sends two senators to Washington, each serving a six-year term. Tina Smith, a Democrat who took office in 2018 after Al Franken resigned, decided not to seek re-election. Amy Klobuchar, a longtime Democratic senator, was elected governor in 2026 and became the first woman elected to lead the state.

In the midterm elections of 3 November 2026, Peggy Flanagan, a Democrat and then lieutenant governor, was projected to win the open seat held by Smith, defeating Republican Michele Tafoya. Klobuchar's win as governor means her own Senate seat becomes vacant, and state law provides for a temporary appointment by the governor followed by a special election. Debate continues over who will fill the seat and what the results mean for the Senate majority.

Minnesota politics blends city and country. Minnesotans in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and Rochester, and in farming and Iron Range communities, weigh the cost of living, health care, agriculture and housing differently. The state is known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes and the Gopher State, and its Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party is a distinctive part of its politics. The 67-member Minnesota Senate in St. Paul has been narrowly divided in recent years.

Smith won her seat in a special election after her 2018 appointment, and Klobuchar's rise to the governor's office follows years as one of the state's best-known Democrats. Flanagan's win keeps the open seat in Democratic hands, while the coming vacancy adds a second Senate story for Minnesota.

The NewsNow Minnesota Senate feed brings together the latest headlines on Peggy Flanagan, Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith, Michele Tafoya, Senate race results, state Senate votes in St. Paul and the wider fight for the Senate majority, from reliable sources, so Minnesotans and anyone following the Gopher State can keep up in one place.