Live from KTTC studios in Rochester, Grey Media and Fox 9 present the 2026 Minnesota Gubernatorial Debate.
Welcome to the 2026 Minnesota Gubernatorial Debate live here at KTTC in Rochester, the only scheduled televised debate reaching every television market in the Northstar State ahead of the November 3rd general election. Voters getting a front seat tonight to hear directly from the candidates: DFL U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, both vying for your vote in what stands to be a historic election. I'm Caitlyn Alexander from KTTC. I will serve as your moderator tonight alongside panelists from our Grey sister stations and Fox 9 in the Twin Cities. So, let's introduce them: Corin Hogard from Fox 9, Stacy Steinhagen from KYC in Mankato, Bobby Fallet from Valley News Live covering western Minnesota, and Laura Lee from KBJR in Duluth.
So now to our rules tonight. Shortly, you will each get two minutes to introduce yourself to our viewers. Then our panelists will begin asking our carefully selected questions we've written together and with viewer input. You'll each get 90 seconds to respond. We will alternate who responds first. I am willing to offer you extra time for rebuttals, especially listening for if your opponent invokes your name or references you specifically — that merits additional time for you to respond. Please use them sparingly. We have a lot to cover tonight. Additionally, I or our panelists may wish to ask you a follow-up question at any point throughout the night. I'll award extra time for those responses as well. You'll each get one minute for closing statements. Both campaigns have agreed to tonight's format and rules. But now, time to hear from our candidates. There was a coin toss tonight to determine who goes first for an opening statement. The first remarks will be Speaker Demuth. You will also deliver your closing remarks first. We'll remind you of that as we get closer. Speaker, we begin with you. You have two minutes.
Good evening. It is my pleasure to be with you tonight. Every Minnesotan knows that the status quo is not working. When we look around our state, we see a state in crisis. We see an estimated $9 billion in fraud. We see exploding Somali gang violence. We see declining test scores. We've seen increasing taxes. And our business climate and economy here in the state is falling.
Twenty years ago, Amy Klobuchar said that she would bring down health care costs, but those have only increased. She said she would stop earmarks. Yet she has supported earmarks for known fraudsters. And when Tim Walz announced his run for a third term as governor, Senator Klobuchar said that he was an incredible governor who has delivered for the state of Minnesota. You can't get any more out of touch than that.
The question Minnesotans will face with this election is: who do you trust to get us out of this mess? The Minnesota leader who has proven and has cracked down on fraud, has made sure that we are cutting taxes and we have increased penalties on violent crime — or the 20-year DC politician who ignored fraud, increased our health care costs, and is actually Tim Walz's pick as candidate. A vote for Amy Klobuchar is a vote for a Tim Walz third term. Minnesota needs a fresh start. I am the proven leader that can bring us forward with the changes that Minnesota needs.
And that is time. Thank you, Senator.
Thank you, and thank you for having this debate tonight. I'm excited to be in Rochester and I'm excited that this debate is reaching everyone in every corner of the state. Given that I visit all 87 counties every year, I believe you need to meet people where they are — go not just where it's comfortable, but sometimes where it's uncomfortable, and you don't agree with everyone all the time. And that's the kind of governor I'll be.
Many of you know my story. I grew up in Plymouth. My husband's family not far from here in Mankato, and my dad grew up in northern Minnesota. I went into the private sector for over 10 years. And then I ran Minnesota's biggest prosecutor's office, which is going to be very helpful when it comes to having a governor who's going to be able to root out the fraud, which is such an important thing right now to gain the trust of Minnesota voters and to get through the red tape and make our state work again. In the U.S. Senate, I have been number one for bipartisan bills, number three for passing bills into law. I believe that you got to find common ground with people. And while we'll debate some of the things that my opponent just raised, I want you to know this: I'm going to get things done. I don't like the status quo. I hate the status quo. I'm someone that believes you need to move forward.
I don't want to move the state to the left or the right. I want to move the state forward. And to me, that means cutting through the red tape, rooting out the fraud with a top-to-bottom audit from day one. To me, that means making sure that we bring down costs for things like health care premiums and prescription drugs and building 100,000 more units of housing, from apartments to single family. I am committed to that with my running mate, who's the former mayor of Fergus Falls, across the state. I will do my job without fear or favor, and I hope to earn your support.
Senator, thank you. Now to our questions tonight from our panel. You both touched on this in your opening statement. Speaker Demuth, you will be the first one to answer, but fraud has riddled the state of Minnesota for several years now. Our viewers ask us repeatedly about it. So, what is the one thing you'll do on day one in office to combat fraud that's been exposed in Minnesota? Specifically, looking for procedures that you'd put in place to impact accountability.
Fraud has been at the top of mind for all Minnesotans, and it's important for you that are watching and listening to know that I respect taxpayer dollars. The dollars that we take in as a state are meant to serve the people of Minnesota. That can be for our schools, our roads and bridges, the most vulnerable among us. But fraud unchecked here in the state of Minnesota has gone far too long, and it has finally come to the surface.
The thing that I will do on day one is I am going to be firing all commissioners, choosing new commissioners that are expert in their field that will carry out the accountability and transparency that is needed in our state. We have to change the culture of fraud. Whistleblowers within state government have been shut down for far too long. And I am the type of person, as I've led within the House of Representatives as speaker, led in business, to make sure that I respect the people that are working alongside me. When there is a level of disrespect for the workers that are there, they don't have the opportunity to expose the fraud for where it is. But changing the culture of fraud and waste here in the state government and making sure government is working for the people of Minnesota instead of the people of Minnesota being taken advantage of and disrespected — that is a change that I will be making as governor of Minnesota.
And that is time. Senator.
Thank you. The fraud is simply unacceptable. And as a former prosecutor, I'm going to send those fraudsters to jail. Tim Walz should have caught the fraud earlier and he should have done more. He said it himself. And by the way, when my opponent references Tim Walz, I will say one thing: he is not seeking a third term. I am the one up here. I'm the one to deal with.
I have a very different experience, with working in the private sector for over 10 years and being a prosecutor and sending fraudsters to jail. When I look at what we need to do: the top-to-bottom audit, an entirely new team that I will bring in, protections to whistleblowers — an issue I've worked on extensively in the United States Senate — but more. We need to vet these contracts before they come in. And there needs to be surprise audits. You can't just do them by Zoom. People need to show up at these places and make sure that they're delivering the service so that the people that need the services get them. And then finally, we need to have a list of the fraudsters so they never come back again. And that is what I will do. I am committed to this. And when I heard about the fraud, what did I do? I called the U.S. attorney and got a bunch of new prosecutors for them, which they needed to complete their work and prosecute these cases.
Speaker, another 30 seconds for you to respond. I saw your signal.
Thank you. You heard Senator Klobuchar say that she realizes Tim Walz is not on the ballot. What we haven't heard from Senator Klobuchar is how she has separated herself from Tim Walz. She never has once come up with a policy that she disagrees with Tim Walz on. The other piece is, even if she made a phone call on fraud, where was she? There was no press release. There was nothing to say that she was protecting our federal taxpayer dollars. She was silent on fraud until Tim Walz asked her to run for governor here in the state of Minnesota.
All right, Senator, I saw your signal for a rebuttal as well.
Thank you. This is absurd. What I have done is, when this came out, I called the U.S. attorney, Andy Luger, and I said, "What do you need?" And he said, "I need more prosecutors." I called the highest level of the Justice Department and I got him those prosecutors. And how do I differ from Tim Walz? You have not come up with one way you differ from Donald Trump. I have been clear: I wouldn't have pardoned the sex offender. I would have put more of the surplus money into infrastructure and technology. And yes, I would have caught the fraud earlier. But you, when asked just a few months ago, could not differentiate yourself in any way from Donald Trump. I think that's a serious problem because we don't need a rubber stamp of Donald Trump in the governor's office.
I can allow more rebuttals on this one. We want to get to more topics tonight. Stacy.
We are sticking with this topic. You mentioned day one what you'll do with fraud. This question going to Senator Klobuchar first. So, in the wake of all of this, how do you rebuild trust in Minnesota?
Trust is earned. And if we want to make sure that people trust our government again, we have got to get rid of the fraud. And to me, getting rid of the fraud means following through on my plan from day one with a top-to-bottom audit. But there's more than that. We need to cut through the red tape right now. It takes too long for small businesses to get things approved. It takes too long for people to get housing started. And we can do so much more in housing. It's exciting because it's going to bring down the costs of housing. Then we have to balance the budget and make sure we're serving people. And if things don't work, I'm going to get rid of them or I'm going to fix them. If they work, we'll keep them. But that's what this top-to-bottom audit is about. It's about changing the status quo.
Trust in Minnesota is something that has been sorely taken advantage of by Democrat leadership here in the state of Minnesota. I was already fighting fraud my very first term in the legislature. I carried a bill in 2019 as a brand new legislator because I had been hearing that there were child care centers without any kids in them. Now, that would have required daily attendance records. Democrats didn't want to talk about it. As we moved forward trying to combat fraud, being in the minority party at the time, it was eventually called racist. Now, fraud does not have a race. It is crime, and we need to protect taxpayer dollars. So, I wasn't just talking about fraud now as your candidate for governor. I was talking about it as soon as I came into the legislature.
The way that we protect our taxpayer dollars is respecting people that work for us. It is making sure that the dollars go to those in need and having internal controls. If you commit fraud in the state of Minnesota under my administration and you are convicted, you will go to jail and you will be prevented from any further social services program here in the state of Minnesota. It is fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And Minnesota has been fooled too many times by the inadequate leadership here in the state of Minnesota by Democrats.
And next topic as well. We want to move on to the question of affordability. Residents in Moorhead, for example, can cross the Red River into Fargo, North Dakota, find a different tax environment. When it comes to income taxes and the overall cost of living, what specific policies would you pursue to make staying in Minnesota more attractive to workers and families?
When I have visited both in Moorhead and our other bordering communities, that is a problem that we've heard, where people can go over the border and the cost of living is less. When it comes to housing, we know that a house can be built for $40,000 less in Wisconsin as opposed to here in Minnesota. Now, we have great economic opportunities in the state of Minnesota, but because of the uncertainty and the pressures put on by Democrat control here in the state, we have mandates on our businesses. We have increasing taxes. Yet you've seen an estimated $9 billion of taxes. So, making things affordable and respecting people is the start. And how I will lead as governor: I'm looking at a blue-ribbon commission to make sure we're identifying why our property taxes are so high. Part of the reason our property taxes are so high is those mandates pushed by the state onto our cities, counties, and school districts. I'll be bringing car tab fees down to $99 so Minnesotans can keep more of their hard-earned money. I will work with people all over our state to make our state affordable, understanding how important that is for those in agriculture, manufacturing, health care, schools, our small and large businesses. Minnesota is open for business under my administration. It will be a business-friendly state, not anti-business rhetoric and decision-making that you've seen under the Democrats.
Senator Klobuchar, your response.
Thank you. I'm not going to raise taxes, and if I can, I will lower them, including on Social Security, because I believe that with the headwinds we're seeing right now from Donald Trump, from the tariffs that my opponent has said are effective, which amount to a $2,000 tariff tax on every family in Minnesota, from the war in Iran, which I have voted against now 14 times, which she waited months to come out against, which has raised the price of gas by $500 — I view those things as headwinds but not excuses. When I am your governor, I'm going to do a comprehensive review of all of our taxes, make it fit the modern world, and make it fit your lives. And mostly this means bringing down your health care premiums and bringing down the cost of child care. I suggest you go to my website at amyklobuchar.com and compare it to my opponent's, and you will see what a real health care plan looks like.
You both mentioned taxes in both of your speeches and responses. We know the cost of living right now for Americans and Minnesotans is very difficult for folks. Minnesota gas tax is currently 32.6 cents per gallon, about double the federal tax at 18.6. Do you support temporarily suspending the state gas tax? Why or why not? And do you support year-round E15? We're going to start with you, Senator.
Sure, of course I support year-round E15. I'm one of the authors of that bill. And biofuels is an important alternative here, and it will help us bring down costs. As far as our gas prices right now, the gas tax is what, 32 cents a gallon. The increase that you have seen since the day that Donald Trump has started this war is $1.50. So while I'll look at it, I can tell you the fastest way to bring down your gas prices, and that is to stop this war in Iran. That is it, beginning, middle, and end.
And when you look at what my opponent brings up, when we had a debate earlier this week, she actually brought up and blamed it on the Keystone pipeline. Then she blamed the health care costs on Barack Obama. I don't know what will be next. Maybe Thomas Jefferson. But what I know is that Minnesotans understand what's happened at the pump. They get that it was $2.79 before the war started. Now it's over $4, $4.25. Diesel prices are even higher at $6. That's what they're dealing with. We have got to do everything we can with biofuels and with bringing down the cost of living. But the fastest way to bring these gas prices down is to end this war, and everyone knows it.
I do support year-round E15. When we look at gas prices and the overall cost of things here in Minnesota, it is because Democrats in the state of Minnesota have exploded our budget. Our budget in the state of Minnesota has increased. It has doubled in 10 years. You have to ask yourself as you're watching tonight: have you had double the benefits from the government? Do we have double the roads? Are schools twice as good? That is not the case. We do not have a revenue problem here in the state of Minnesota. We do have a problem with spending here in the state of Minnesota.
As far as our gas prices, part of the reason that they have exploded is the fact that there is an automatic gas inflator put on. That is something that I have said that I will pull down immediately. And that's an important thing to look at. We can talk about that Keystone pipeline that my opponent has voted against, that would have brought in 830,000 barrels of oil. It would have helped with the supply that we have here. Yet, she voted against it. But you have to ask yourself, why are things so expensive here in Minnesota? They were expensive because of overspending by a one-party control in 2023 and 2024.
I will bring down prices. I will right-size our state budget and make sure that you can afford your lives, that you can grow, thrive, and businesses will be coming to Minnesota to provide the jobs that are needed. It's common sense, and that's the decision that you have to make as you're looking to this election this year.
And that is time. Senator, 30 seconds to respond.
Minnesotans are well aware what's going on here with these tariffs that my opponent has said are effective for this state. What? We've seen a 13% decrease in exports. We've seen a 20% decrease of people from Canada just coming over to go to our restaurants and go to our hotels, particularly in northern Minnesota. What have we seen with health care? We've seen 8 million people tossed off their health care. Your premiums going up something like 700 bucks a year for people that are on the individual marketplace. It is very clear that we need a governor who is not a rubber stamp of Donald Trump. And we need a governor that's going to focus on you and not just do the bidding of a billionaire from Wisconsin that's paid for 80% of her ads.
Sticking with affordability. Speaker Demuth, as of 2024, roughly 56% of Minnesotans could not afford the median home in this state. New homes, they're even more expensive. And since then, mortgage rates have gone up from 6.4% to 7.4%. Average monthly payment up more than $200. So, what specific steps would your administration take to make this engine of generational wealth a lot more accessible? Speaker Demuth, that's for you.
The accessibility to home ownership is important across our state. When you look at the fact that you can build a home in Wisconsin for $40,000 less than you can here in Minnesota, you have to ask the question why. We have overregulation here in the state of Minnesota. We want safe homes, and we have those. Our surrounding states also have them. When you look at why those costs have increased, there have been too many mandates put on how things are built here, the permitting, and the other regulation. So, bringing that into common sense is going to allow more homes to be built.
Now, when my husband and I were first married, we had a home that we could afford that was only 830 square feet. It was just over $20,000. Now things have changed considerably, but the home availability for all types — whether it is multi-housing, it can be mobile homes, individual housing — people have to be able to get into the homes that they need. Bringing down the regulation is the first start, but you have to look at the pressure of property taxes that have increased, that actually once you're in that home, can you continue? We look at the pressure of taxes on our seniors. I will be ending the tax on Social Security so seniors can afford the homes that they are in rather than being pressured with our property taxes. This is an all-of-the-above and all-in reason why we need to bring down the cost and the excessive spending that has taken place for far too long here in the state of Minnesota. Right-sizing our budget is what I will do as governor of the state.
Thank you. You should be able to afford your life. And when it comes to housing, I am 100% committed to work with the private sector to build 100,000 new housing units by the end of my term if you give me your vote. That means everything from apartment buildings to single-family homes. I think that if you increase the supply like that, you're going to bring down costs, in addition to taking on some of these hedge funds that are buying out housing and making sure that you're helping renters.
There is a bill that just passed in Washington that I worked on called the Road to Housing, and it is the first housing bill in 30 years, and it was actually done by a conservative Republican along with Elizabeth Warren, and I did a lot of the work on the rural pieces of it. What does that mean? It's going to create and usher in this new world where we're going to put bigger emphasis on modular homes, like what you see, the new units that have been built in Grand Marais or the major apartments that have been built in Edina. It's cheaper and it's faster. Manufactured home — my husband grew up in a trailer court in Mankato. That's what we used to call it back then. And they're not your grandpa's trailer courts anymore, with all due respect to my father-in-law. They are becoming another way to expand housing in addition to single families. I think this is exciting to work with cities across our state. We've got a workforce. We've got to bring new people into our state. We want to build, and we've got to cut the red tape and make it easier to build these houses, and I am committed to do it.
This next question goes to Senator Klobuchar first. Minnesota cancer advocates with ACS CAN are at a watch party in Eagan and have sent this in: Not all Minnesotans have consistent access to no-cost cancer screenings, including the follow-up testing required where appropriate. Would you support legislation to require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover screenings for breast, cervical, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancer without cost sharing for the enrollee, including any needed follow-up tests?
Well, I am very eager to work with your viewers on this and do everything we can to make these screenings either very, very inexpensive or free. Under the Affordable Care Act, I was proud to support — my opponent has criticized it — 44 million Americans got health care. Sadly, as I noted, 8 million have been tossed off since Donald Trump came in. But these screenings are everything. Both Speaker Demuth and I have had breast cancer, and those early screenings mean that we're up here right now. That meant everything. The fact that they were able to catch mine when it was just 1A, and then I went on to be able to have a lumpectomy and get through all of it. I want everyone to be able to have that kind of experience.
And to me that means if you want to help people who have cancer, you make sure you make those screenings available. My votes show where I stand on this, from funding for cures with the research both in the state and federally to the work that I've done to make sure people are covered. So, I'm very eager to work with you. We need better coverage and more affordable coverage for people in the state of Minnesota when it comes to health care.
Speaker Demuth, your answer.
What you'll hear tonight, even though the senator and I have different viewpoints, we are both breast cancer survivors, and I think that is important for people to realize that sometimes we can have things in common even when we differ politically. When I was diagnosed, I live in greater Minnesota. So access to quality health care — and I know being here in Rochester and the Mayo Clinic and the work that is done here, both the research and the treatment, can save and change lives. Access to screening and access to the care that you need when you're facing some of the hardest times is so very important.
What I will say though is we need to make sure that we have that rural health care that we have in our largest cities. And when we have people on health care, that's how they can access the screening. You will hear my opponent talk about the fact that people are off their health care. When you look at the details of that though, eligibility verification matters very much. If people are able-bodied and can work and have their insurance and afford it, they need to. But I support the screenings, and I support going forward to make sure that people can live the best and healthiest lives wherever they are in the state of Minnesota.
Staying on the topic of health care, if you've spent any time in Rochester recently, you know there's a lot of change happening in downtown with Mayo Clinic's multibillion-dollar investment. However, in other parts of the state, many are seeing hospitals either consolidate or, in rural Minnesota, health care facilities being shut down and services ended. Many say that the state has caused burdens on particular rural health systems. Minnesotans are counting on someone to address this. What specifically would you do to fix these problems, including keeping health care both accessible and affordable? Speaker Demuth, you're first.
I had an opportunity to work on supporting our critical access hospitals across the state of Minnesota just this last year in the legislature. I've supported the University of Minnesota program that they have in St. Cloud, Minnesota, along with CentraCare, where there is the rural medical school. The purpose of that is to train doctors for the rural areas so that when they have the ability to practice medicine, they can go out to different parts of the state. That's a very important tool that we are supporting, the growing of additional medical professionals right in central Minnesota.
When we look at the cost though for health care and some of the challenges faced by the critical access hospitals, I was able to secure additional emergency funding for those and an increase in the reimbursement so that it would help them meet their budgets a little bit better. Now, health care is a big topic, and you will find my plan on my website, but it's important to realize that we're looking at all of the inputs and all of the reasons why our health care is more expensive. Senator Klobuchar supported the Affordable Care Act. She promised that it would bring down our health care. Unfortunately, we have seen anything but. All of our health care since the Affordable Care Act has increased the health care cost to all Minnesotans. So, federally, it needs to be more effective and more affordable. But the things that we can do at the state level is making sure that we have a good private-public mix in the payer mix, increasing the reimbursements, and pulling down the mandates that have made it harder for hospitals and clinics to both staff and do the work for the people of Minnesota.
We're very different on this front. I have worked to take on the big pharmaceutical companies. Number one, I led the bill when it took to negotiating and ending the sweetheart deal they had under Medicare. It has saved under both the Biden and Trump...
administrations now $6 billion for taxpayers and $1.5 billion for seniors. I'm going to take that to the state level when it comes to bulk purchasing. My opponent on the other hand opposed the 340B discounts, 240B discounts when it came to pharmaceuticals, and that is a big burden on the rural hospitals. Ask them. Instead, she sided with pharma. When it comes to premiums, if Donald Trump is not going to extend the tax credits that help people on the individual marketplace like small businesses and farmers, I'm going to do it in the state. 10 states have done it. New Mexico is the only state that's actually seen an increase in people insured. That will greatly help our rural hospitals. And when it comes to something that we have not discussed, which is reproductive health care for women, I am on their side and support their right to make a decision with their family and their doctor. My opponent wrote the bill, authored the bill to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest, and what's worse, to send doctors to jail. And then she said she would overturn the court case under a constitution that protects women's rights. We are vastly different when it comes to health care.
