Minnesotans on Tuesday selected all female Republican and Democratic nominees for governor and U.S. Senate, the first time that a state’s ballot for those offices features only women from the major parties, according to Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya, a former sports reporter, will compete for Minnesota’s open Senate seat. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) and state House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R) are vying for the governorship.
The matchup between Klobuchar and Demuth, who defeated men endorsed by President Donald Trump and the state party, guarantees that Minnesota will have its first female leader next year. It is one of 17 states that have never elected a woman as governor. Voters from two other states on that list, Georgia and Tennessee, could also elect their first female governor this year.
The country reached a record 13 female governors in 2025 after the election of Republican Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire. Virginians elected Democrat Abigail Spanberger as the state’s first female governor later that year.
2018, the midterm election during President Donald Trump’s first term, was a banner year for women in politics. A record number won major-party nominations for governor and the House. In Michigan, Democrats nominated women for every statewide office on the ballot: governor, Senate, attorney general and secretary of state, and all of them won in November.
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