{"id":106750,"date":"2026-01-21T02:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/106750\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:42:09","slug":"republican-michele-tafoya-to-launch-minnesota-senate-run-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/106750\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Michele Tafoya to launch Minnesota Senate run \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NFL<\/a> sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is planning to launch a run for Senate in Minnesota<\/a>, giving Republicans a high-profile recruit as they look to put the state in play next year.<\/p>\n

Tafoya filed paperwork on Tuesday establishing a Senate campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission. Three sources familiar with her decision confirmed that Tafoya is running for Senate, and two sources said an official announcement is expected on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

While Republicans are looking to expand their four-seat Senate majority next year by targeting states President Donald Trump<\/a> won in 2024, including Michigan and Georgia, some in the party have been optimistic that Democratic Sen. Tina Smith\u2019s retirement could put Minnesota in play. <\/a>Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Rep. Angie Craig are both competing for the Democratic nod.<\/p>\n

Tafoya, a longtime reporter who worked for NBC Sports and currently hosts a podcast, had been seriously weighing a Senate run for months and met with the National Republican Senatorial Committee in December, according to one source familiar with the meeting. Last year\u2019s GOP nominee for Senate, former professional basketball player Royce White, is also in the race, along with former state GOP chairman David Hann and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze. <\/p>\n

Tafoya\u2019s entrance as a well-known reporter and relative political outsider could give her party a boost. A self-described \u201cpro-choice\u201d Republican<\/a>, Tafoya could also have some bipartisan appeal. <\/p>\n

But Republicans have not won a statewide election there since 2006 and they have struggled to recruit candidates who can make the races close. <\/p>\n

White, known for controversial comments online<\/a>, at times using slurs, lost to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar by 16 points last year even as Trump made some gains in the state. Trump, who has long eyed Minnesota as a potential pickup<\/a>, lost Minnesota by 4 points last year, a 3-point improvement on his 2020 margin. <\/p>\n

But Tafoya\u2019s path forward could be complicated by the state party\u2019s primary process. <\/p>\n

The state Republican Party endorses a candidate at the party convention, which often boosts that candidate\u2019s campaign. But others who do not get the endorsement can continue with a primary campaign. White won the state GOP\u2019s endorsement last year, but he still faced a contested primary<\/a>, winning the Republican nomination with 39% of the vote. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear yet if Tafoya will seek the party\u2019s endorsement, or continue with a primary run if she does not win the nod. <\/p>\n

Tafoya has been mentioned as a potential candidate in recent years. She entered politics<\/a> in 2022, co-chairing Republican Kendall Quall\u2019s gubernatorial campaign covering her final Super Bowl. Qualls is running for governor again this year in a crowded GOP primary<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Tafoya told WDAY Radio<\/a> in February 2025 that she was close to making a decision about a Senate run and had spoken with NRSC Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C. She noted she was considering the impact on her family and questioning how long she would remain in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Minnesota is starving for a moderate Republican who doesn\u2019t tell them that they\u2019re going to ban abortion, but who also is the antithesis of the Tim Walz regime,\u201d Tafoya said at the time when speaking broadly about the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is planning to launch a run for Senate in Minnesota, giving Republicans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[858,38490,5800,9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-106750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-congress","9":"tag-decision-2026","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}