Tim Pawlenty was the last Republican to win statewide office after he was re-elected to his second term as Minnesota’s governor in 2006.
The former governor thinks 2026 might be Minnesota Republicans’ “best chance” to achieve the same feat 20 years later, he told Forum News Service in November.
The GOP race is crowded, with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, attorney Chris Madel, and previous gubernatorial candidates Kendall Qualls and physician Scott Jensen.
“The 2026 elections are the best chance for Republicans to win statewide here in a long time. Those chances will be impacted by (President Donald) Trump and (Gov. Tim) Walz’s popularity a year from now, the state of the economy, whether key consumer items are affordable, the quality of our candidates, and the growing sense things are off track in Minnesota,” Pawlenty wrote in an email.
‘Political climate more polarized’
Last year, a few Republicans and former Republicans declared themselves in support of former Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Pawlenty was not one of them, but when asked to reflect on the “Republicans for Harris wave,” he said, “If you haven’t closed a sale with your product in nearly 20 years, it’s long past the time to get a better product, better marketing, or both.”
Pawlenty said he thinks Republicans currently in office have done a good job addressing “concerns about illegal immigration, crime, out-of-control wokeness and more,” but that more efforts are needed toward affordability.
“Almost nothing stays the same in politics for long, and recent changes have featured MAGA taking over the Republican Party and socialists taking over the Democratic Party. The political climate is now markedly more polarized than when I was governor,” he wrote.
During his tenure, Pawlenty focused on not raising taxes. He turned a budget deficit into a surplus — that later turned into a budget deficit. He passed a concealed carry law, and oversaw major infrastructure projects like the Northstar Commuter Rail and Target Field.
Before he was governor, he served 10 years in the Minnesota Legislature. He also had an unsuccessful run for the 2012 Republican nomination for president in 2010. He finished second to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential running mate in 2008. Pawlenty sought a third term as governor in 2018 but lost the Republican primary to Jeff Johnson.
‘A chilling effect on our discourse’
Now, Pawlenty serves on various boards, periodically writes and speaks about policy and politics, and sometimes appears on cable news shows.
Two of those appearances were on Twin Cities-based KARE 11 in the wake of the June 14 Minnesota lawmaker shootings.
In one appearance on June 18, he provided context on misinformation regarding the appointment of accused assassin Vance Boelter to a government board. In another appearance on June 14, he said Minnesota’s “civic and political fabric seems to be so torn.”
“It’s going to have a chilling effect on our discourse, on our political leaders, but importantly, also their families,” Pawlenty said on KARE 11. “Can you imagine being the child or a spouse, a significant other, of a political leader in this environment — every time you open the door, every time you go to the grocery store, you don’t know who is just going to question you or who might harm you?”
Fraud cases
On Dec. 5, he weighed in on Minnesota’s fraud investigations and the rhetoric about Minnesota’s Somali community that has followed.
“Over 80 people have been charged … criminally for that fraud, and the vast majority of almost all of them are, in fact, Somali,” he said on News Nation. “So we don’t want to stigmatize any group because they belong to an ethnic group or another group, but we also don’t want to excuse illegal behavior or misconduct because they’re in that group.”
When asked about how the current administration has handled the issue, Pawlenty responded, “There’s no question … that the early signals around this fraud were ignored.”
When Forum News Service asked what’s ahead for him, Pawlenty didn’t rule out all elected office but did comment on one 2026 race.
“While I’ve been asked to run for the U.S. Senate, I don’t think I could win my party’s endorsement at the convention or in a primary because I guess I’m now viewed as too ‘mainstream’ — which I find kinda funny,” he wrote.
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