Klobuchar makes early move to separate herself from Gov. Tim Walz in governor's race

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is drawing a careful line between herself and Gov. Tim Walz as she ramps up her campaign for governor, saying she would have done "a lot of things differently" on issues ranging from fraud to managing the state's finances.

Klobuchar has signaled that she intends to govern closer to the political middle and not repeat the missteps of Walz, a fellow Democrat who has become a political lightning rod at home and nationally. Her attempt to break from Walz comes as Republicans are trying to cast her campaign as an extension of his administration.

"I wouldn't be running for governor if I wanted to have things remain the same. I want to see change," Klobuchar said at a news conference on Sunday.

The strategy reflects the complicated politics of succession for Klobuchar, who is presenting herself as both the DFL's standard-bearer and someone who can correct her party's biggest failures. Rather than drawing sharp ideological contrasts with Walz, she's emphasizing differences in leadership, from her intense focus on the details of governing to her willingness to work across the aisle. It's a message that Klobuchar is betting will resonate with voters while not alienating the DFL base.

Pat Garofalo, a former Republican state representative, said the early theme of Klobuchar's campaign is, "you can have a better governor than you have right now."

"She's not talking about ideology. She's not picking a fight with the (Democratic Socialists of America)," Garofalo said. "She's totally ... just zeroed in on that theme."

Asked to comment further on the dynamic, a spokesperson for Klobuchar's campaign referred back to her remarks at the Sunday news conference.

The biggest distinction Klobuchar has made relates to how she would respond to snowballing allegations of fraud in the state's social services programs. Critics have said Walz didn't act quickly enough to stop it; the governor abandoned his bid for a third term amid scrutiny of his response.

Klobuchar said she would have acted immediately if she had been governor when the fraud started to spread, zeroing in on programs with "ballooning budgets" and conducting surprise audits.

She said Minnesotans are right to be angry about fraud: "It is unacceptable and it must end. It should never have happened to begin with."

Asked about Klobuchar's comments Monday, Walz told reporters that "everyone thinks they would have done things differently."

"That's fine," said Walz, who has not endorsed Klobuchar's campaign but said he will if the senator wants him to. "What I'm most concerned about now is not theoretical, it's not what if. [It's] what we're doing forward to fix it."

Klobuchar released an anti-fraud plan Sunday that includes a "top-to-bottom audit" of state agencies, tougher criminal penalties for fraud, more oversight through in-person inspections, and a permanent ban on state grants and contracts for anyone convicted of fraud.

She also called for the state to modernize decades-old IT systems, which could help catch fraud. If she would have been governor in 2023, Klobuchar said she would have used part of a massive $17.5 billion budget surplus to pay for the systems upgrade.

"I would have actually put some of that money from that surplus into some things that just aren't that glamorous," she said. "Things like water and sewer and projects that have been awaiting work."

Many of Klobuchar's proposals overlap with bills that are actively being debated at the State Capitol. Walz and lawmakers are discussing the IT systems upgrade in the closing days of the legislative session.

State Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Maple Grove Republican who chairs the fraud prevention committee in the Minnesota House, said much of what Klobuchar pitched sounds like things Republicans have been asking for. Robbins said she called for a full audit of state agencies last summer, for example.

Sen. Michael Holmstrom, R-Buffalo, noted that one of his anti-fraud proposals was cited in Klobuchar's plan. While he said he appreciated the nod, he called it "meaningless," saying that Klobuchar has done nothing this session to rein in fraud or even ask Minnesota Democrats to take up anti-fraud measures.

Former Minnesota DFL chair Mike Erlandson said Klobuchar's plan shows she recognizes the value of working with Republicans when they bring forward good ideas.

"We're in this place today where working with the other team seems like it's the third rail," Erlandson said. "I don't think it will be the third rail for Sen. Klobuchar. I think she's going to bring people together and drive change for the state of Minnesota."

At her news conference Sunday, Klobuchar said that "good ideas can come from Democrats and Republicans." She said she will measure the state's success in the results it achieves, not "in bills passed or political theater."

Garofalo said that many of Minnesota's fraud problems don't require changes in law but new leadership.

"To that point, she's right," Garofalo said. "I understand why people from the Dayton and Walz administrations don't want to hear that, but it's true."

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-Allison Kite of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 12:53 PM.