Add Rep. Angie Craig to the list of Democrats considering bids to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith in Minnesota next year.
“I am giving serious consideration to the open Senate seat in Minnesota,” the congresswoman posted on social media Monday. “I’ll be talking to Minnesotans in the weeks ahead about the best way to continue to serve my community and will make a decision in the near future.”
Craig, who was recently chosen by her caucus to be the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, was the first openly gay woman elected to Congress from Minnesota. If she does run for Senate, she would leave behind a swing district south of the Twin Cities that has been a battleground seat for the past few election cycles, though Craig won a fourth term last fall by double digits.
Already, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan has said it is her “intention” to run for Smith’s seat. Her boss, Gov. Tim Walz, the losing Democratic vice presidential nominee last year who hasn’t yet said if he’s running for a third term, is also considering a Senate bid, Politico reported. Other Democrats who are said to be weighing campaigns or being encouraged to run include state attorney general and former Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Secretary of State Steve Simon.
On the Republican side, former NBA player Royce White, the losing nominee for the state’s other Senate seat last fall, said on social media Saturday that he would be making another run next year.
“I’m running again because I’m 33 years old and I learned so much from the 1st campaign. It goes to waste if we let establishment shills convince us this isn’t a ‘We The People’ movement,” White said.
According to Axios, other Republicans said to be considering runs include state Sen. Julia Coleman, the daughter-in-law of former Sen. Norm Coleman, the last Republican to win a Senate race in Minnesota. Another state senator, Karin Housley, who lost to Smith in a 2018 special election, is not ruling out another run, Axios reported.
Smith’s surprise decision to retire opens up a seat in a blue-leaning state that Republicans are viewing as a potential target. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales moved Minnesota to its list of Battleground Senate states for 2026.
Democrats face a difficult Senate map for 2026. While 22 Republican-held seats will be on the ballot, most are in deep-red states and just two, Maine and North Carolina, are rated as Battlegrounds by Inside Elections. Meanwhile, Democrats are defending incumbents in Georgia and New Hampshire, as well as trying to hold open seats in Michigan and now Minnesota.
While Minnesota would be more of a reach state for the GOP, a strong recruit could make the race more competitive than past Senate contests. In last year’s presidential election, Donald Trump narrowed his loss to 4 points, even with the presence of Walz on the Democratic ticket.
“Minnesota is in play, and we play to win,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement last week. “Minnesotans deserve a Senator who will fight for lower taxes, economic opportunity, and safer communities.”
Still, Democrats have won eight straight Senate elections in Minnesota dating back to 2006. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar won a fourth term last year by 16 points over White, who was backed by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and ran on an anti-establishment platform.
“No Republican has won a Minnesota Senate race in over 20 years and Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026,” David Bergstein, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement Thursday.
In a video announcing her retirement, Smith, 66, cited a need to spend more time with her family, including her four grandchildren and her father, who will turn 95 this summer.
“This decision is not political. It is entirely personal,” she said.
A longtime operative in Democratic-Farmer-Labor politics in Minnesota, Smith began her career in elective office in 2014, winning election as state lieutenant governor on a ticket with Gov. Mark Dayton, a former senator himself. Dayton appointed her to the Senate in 2018 after Al Franken’s abrupt resignation amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
Smith won the special election that year against Housley by double digits before winning a full term in 2020 by a narrower 5 points over Republican Rep. Jason Lewis. A former Planned Parenthood executive, she became a member of the Senate Democratic whip team and was a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee vice chair for the 2024 cycle.
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