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U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who has represented West St. Paul in Congress since 2019, announced today she is running for U.S. Senate. The move sets off a scramble for potential open seats, with impacts for West St. Paul.
2026 U.S. Senate
Craig joins DFLers Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan and former State Sen. Melisa Lopez Franzen in running for the seat being vacated by Sen. Tina Smith, who announced earlier this year her intention not run for reelection. On the Republican side, there’s 2024 candidate Royce White and veteran Adam Schwarze. State Sen. Julia Coleman, daughter of former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, is also considering a bid.
- Endorsed: Flanagan has already received the endorsement of a number of DFL elected officials, including West St. Paul’s State Rep. Mary Frances Clardy.
- State of the seat: The last time Republicans won a Senate seat in Minnesota was 2002, though Republicans see an open seat as a greater opportunity.
2026 Second Congressional District
Running for U.S. Senate means Craig is potentially* leaving her second congressional district seat open, setting off a flurry of potential candidates:
- Who’s running: For the DFL, potential candidates include West St. Paul’s State Sen. Matt Klein, State Sen. Erin Maye Quade, former State Sen. Matt Little, and DFL operative Mike Norton. For the GOP, there’s State Sen. Eric Pratt and former CD2 candidates Joe Teirab and Tyler Kistner. (At this point, no one has officially announced and this speculation has been reported by Blois Olson’s Morning Take and the Star Tribune.)
- State of the seat: Races for this seat have been extremely close and often the target of national attention (and dollars), though Craig won more decisively in 2024 with 56% of the vote.
“I think 2026 is the best chance for us to hold my House seat if I were to step away,” Craig said in a Star Tribune story earlier this month.
2026 Senate District 53
When asked about running for U.S. House, Klein said “no comment,” preferring to keep the focus on Craig’s announcement. Earlier this month, Olson reported a Klein for Congress website that briefly went live before being pulled. If Klein runs, he could potentially* leave his state senate seat open, which he’s held since 2017.
- State of the seat: The district leans DFL, with Klein winning with 58% of the vote in the most recent election in 2022.
- Who’s running: No word on potential candidates for this state senate seat, assuming Klein runs.
*Note: “Open” seats won’t be officially known until the filing period for the 2026 election closes on June 2, 2026. That’s the last possible moment to get on the ballot and when candidates have to commit to running for a specific spot. It’s possible for someone to announce their candidacy for a new seat, lose their party’s endorsement (which usually happens before the filing deadline), and still run for their old seat. Or run for the new seat and force a primary. Party endorsements have meant less in recent years, as the last two DFL governors—Tim Walz and Mark Dayton—did not receive their party’s endorsement when they first ran. It can trigger the kind of last-minute announcements and musical chairs we saw in 2018 when then Attorney General Lori Swanson announced her run for governor a day before the filing deadline. That prompted then U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison to run for attorney general and then State Rep. Ilhan Omar to run for Ellison’s seat in Congress.
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