MINNEAPOLIS— One race that hasn’t gotten much attention this election year is for U.S. Senate here in Minnesota.
Senator Amy Klobuchar is running for her fourth term. In Talking Points, Esme Murphy looks at the Republicans’ attempts to defeat her.
Klobuchar has won her last two re-election bids in landslides, winning more than 60% of the vote. Major pollsters see her 2024 race as a safe place for her to win. But that won’t stop Republicans from trying.
Last month, Republicans surprisingly nominated Royce White, a former Gopher and NBA basketball player who still plays in a professional three-on-three league. White has a controversial past, including failure to pay child support, a charge White denies; referring to women as “empowered”; and once identified himself on social media as “an anti-Semite.”
Then there’s questionable campaign spending in 2022 if he does ran for Congress. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging White embezzled $157,000 in campaign contributions, including $1,200 at a strip club and thousands in unexplained wire transfers.
Despite these factors, Republicans overwhelmingly chose White to run against Klobuchar last month. But White’s nomination has suffered major setbacks. Three of the last Republicans to win a statewide race in Minnesota — former senators Rudy Boschwitz and Norm Coleman and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty — have challenged White’s candidacy. In an unprecedented break with the party’s approval process, all three signed a letter endorsing another potential challenger to Klobuchar: Navy veteran Joe Fraser.
White says he can bring new, young voters and voters of color to the Republican Party. He was a guest on WCCO on Sunday morning at 10:30 am
“The Norm Coleman, Rudy Boschwitz and Tim Pawlenty style of Republican politics has never really been successful in those areas and to be fair all three lost their last statewide elections and they tie back over 30 years of losses for the entire Republican party. party,” White said.
Fraser, who once said he would respect the party’s approval, now says he won’t. He will be a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning next Sunday.
White and Frasier will soon face off in the August 13 Republican primary, which has historically had low turnout. Klobuchar sits comfortably at $5.7 million in her campaign account, while White has $10,000 in his campaign account and Fraser $43,000.
White denies that any campaign funds were embezzled and says he is in the process of reviewing those campaign files.
The Republican support brings the full weight of the Minnesota Republican Party, including monetary and human resources.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6am and 10:30am
