Politics at the Minnesota State Fair: Candidates mingle with voters ahead of November - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports
Politics at the Minnesota State Fair: Candidates mingle with voters ahead of November - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports ## Here’s what voters had to say about candidates for governor, U.S.
inforum.com · September 7, 2026
Politics at the Minnesota State Fair: Candidates mingle with voters ahead of November - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports
## Here’s what voters had to say about candidates for governor, U.S. Senate
Thousands of people walk along Liggett Street at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026.
John Autey / Pioneer Press
By Alex Derosier / St. Paul Pioneer Press Today at 1:12 PM
ST. PAUL — Candidates for statewide office campaigned at the Minnesota State Fair this year, meeting with potential voters at their booths, trying new foods, or working the all-you-can-drink milk stand.
The fair comes two months before the general election and gives candidates their first major opportunity to meet with voters face-to-face. Unlike fairs before this decade, candidates have largely avoided debate-style events.
Still, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican candidates have taken to the crowds, mingling with potential voters and taking part in solo TV and radio interviews. During the first week of the fair, they continued to meet as many people as they could.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who are running to replace Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, arrived on the first day and, like others, have been a steady presence.
Before appearing for a KARE-TV interview on affordability and housing on Wednesday, Sept. 2, Demuth met with a line of supporters at her booth near the Minnesota Farm Bureau. For the fourth-term lawmaker, the fair is an opportunity to meet with a wide swath of the state electorate.
“People were stopping us on the street saying, ‘I never voted for Republicans. I’m voting for you’ — it’s really unexpected,” she said. “I just want to meet and learn.”
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, center, meets with voters at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026.
Alex Derosier / Pioneer Press
Klobuchar, as well as U.S. Senate candidates Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michelle Tafoya, have seen similar crowds seeking to meet them. Klobuchar said she has gotten ideas for new bills from meeting voters at the fair.
“It’s this grounding moment where if you just live in a world of doomscrolling on the internet, you just forget the joy of people with their families and sharing memories and futures,” she said. “You can’t just rely on the internet and phones and emails to the office.”
Klobuchar’s booth across the street from the Dairy Building has seen long lines, as has Tafoya’s just down the block near the Horticulture Building. Demuth’s booth also attracted supporters while Flanagan brought in folks at the DFL Party site.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (center) talks with Jimmy Jam (right) and Terry Lewis on the opening day of the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2026. Klobuchar is the Democratic candidate for Minnesota governor in the November 2026 election.
John Autey / Pioneer Press
## Campaigning at the fair
Gone are the days of high-profile debates for top offices at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The last fair debate for a top statewide office — whether it be for governor or U.S. Senate — was in 2018.
But candidates still see strong opportunities to meet the state’s residents ahead of the general election. Flanagan served all-you-can-drink milk and took a ride on the Giant Slide with other Democratic candidates. Tafoya took Polaroid photos with visitors — including from stands like Big Fat Bacon — all of which are on display at her booth.
Demuth and Klobuchar on Wednesday touted their plans for housing affordability in separate appearances on the KARE-11 stage in a decidedly policy-focused and non-confrontational event.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Tafoya, center, meets with voters at her booth at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026.
Alex Derosier / Pioneer Press
## Crop art, partisan merch
There was little open partisan rancor among fairgoers, but the issues of the year were on full display at party and candidate booths and at this year’s crop art exhibit. Republicans displayed mock pallets of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash to highlight money lost in welfare fraud schemes.
The crop art exhibit featured pieces critical of President Donald Trump and his immigration crackdown earlier this year in Minnesota, as well as tributes to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, activists killed during the operation, which brought thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota.
Fair officials removed a piece displaying the number “8647” — a term calling for the removal of Trump, now the country’s 47th president — and 86 — a restaurant industry term for removing a patron from an establishment — after conservative backlash to the piece.
## The voters
In a year marked by big events in Minnesota such as Operation Metro Surge and large-scale federal fraud prosecutions, many voters have already made up their minds in the general election.
Corbin Scott, 59, of Arden Hills, described both Demuth and Klobuchar as “decent women” and said Minnesota was fortunate to have qualified state leaders.
But he wasn’t convinced by Republican arguments about fraud in statewide programs and was put off by the national direction of the party — especially with the Trump administration’s hard line on immigration.
“They’ve done their homework, they’ve come up through the ranks, they’ve led,” he said of the GOP and DFL candidates for governor. “It just comes down to the issues.”
Tony Bolduc, a Republican voter from Rogers, said he had supported Mike Lindell for governor and Royce White for Senate in the primary but supported the GOP candidates for governor and Senate.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, right, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, serves milk Monday afternoon, Aug. 31, 2026, to customers at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights.
Alex Derosier / Pioneer Press
“Now I just have to choose which one of those two, and that makes it a pretty easy choice,” he said.
The choice was also clear for Anna Gurung, a 25-year-old from the Hastings area who works in a restaurant and voted for Flanagan in the DFL primary but for a left-wing challenger to Klobuchar.
“I would never call myself a Democrat anymore with how centrist-leaning it is nowadays,” she said, explaining how heavily Operation Metro Surge weighed on her decision. “That can’t happen again.” She said she’s voting for Democrats.
Meanwhile, others still haven’t made a decision, like Barb and Mike Nelson of North Branch, both in their 70s. While both said they are concerned about fraud and growing taxes, they said they still want to evaluate their options and see which of the candidates are more consistent in their messaging.
“There’s a lot of commercials and a lot of speaking that will go on between now and November,” Mike said, with Barb continuing: ”I think we’ll get a better feel for who is consistent in what they’re saying.”
This story was originally published on TwinCities.com.