Former broadcaster Michele Tafoya launches Senate bid in Minnesota

Michele Tafoya, the former prominent sports broadcaster known for her sideline reporting on “Sunday Night Football,” has announced she plans to run for Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat.

In a video announcing her candidacy Tafoya described herself as a “political outsider and a reformer” who will “clean up the system” by “fighting corruption, ending the fraud and protecting your tax dollars.”

Tafoya jumps into the race nearly a year after she first teased a bid following DFL Sen. Tina Smith’s announcement that she planned to retire. Republicans had struggled to find a top-tier candidate after several prospects decided to pass on running.

Though she enters crowded GOP field, which includes former Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann and controversial former NBA player Royce White, she won rare early backing from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which had worked to recruit her.

“Michele is the only candidate with the common-sense leadership Minnesotans are desperately craving, and her message of safety, opportunity, and prosperity would be a welcome addition to our Senate majority,” NRSC Chair Sen. Tim Scott said in a statement.

Officials from the NRSC paid a visit to Minnesota over the summer to try to recruit candidates, highlighting how important they view winning a seat that’s evaded them years.

Minnesota and national Republicans had seen Tafoya as a candidate with the name recognition and the ability to raise the money necessary to make the seat competitive for the GOP, which has not won statewide since 2006.

Both Democrats have been running for the seat for nearly a year and have raised millions and racked up dozens of endorsements along the way.

“Today, Donald Trump landed his top recruit for U.S. Senate in Minnesota – Michele Tafoya. And let me tell you, this is going to be a dog fight," Craig said in a video following Tafoya’s announcement. “We need to make sure Donald Trump isn’t handed another rubber stamp.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesperson Maeve Coyle warned that Tafoya’s candidacy would be "plagued by her history of far-right positions that are out of step with Minnesotans."

“No Republican has won a Senate seat in Minnesota in more than two decades, and 2026 will be no different,” Coyle said in a statement.

Just four years ago, some Republicans thought Tafoya’s stance in favor of abortion rights was a significant political liability within the party. As businessman Kendall Qualls unsuccessfully tried to win the GOP endorsement for governor in 2022, he publicly distanced himself from Tafoya onstage in Rochester by saying she would not be his running mate.

“The state Supreme Court has already ruled. Any abortion ban would immediately be declared unconstitutional, period. So when the Dems say there’s going to be a ban, they’re lying to you.”

Hann released a statement after Tafoya’s announcement saying that she “demanded” Republicans “abandon their heartfelt fight to ban abortion.”

Tafoya did not mention abortion in her first campaign video announcing a Senate run on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

In her video, Tafoya said she will ask the “tough questions” and demand answers to issues that are front and center for many Minnesotans, including fraud, rising prices for food and housing, attacks on law enforcement, and transgender girls in sports.

“It’s embarrassing our state,” Tafoya said. “For years, I walked the sidelines when pressure was mounting and the stakes were the highest. It taught me how leadership really works. I am ready to lead.”