Republican Kendall Qualls will run for Minnesota governor in 2026

By KSTP

Republican Kendall Qualls will run for Minnesota governor again in 2026, he told KSTP Chief Political Reporter Tom Hauser on Tuesday.

NEW TODAY: Republican Kendall Qualls tells me he plans to file to run in 2026 MN governor’s race. Qualls narrowly lost ‘22 GOP endorsement to Scott Jensen. He’s an Army veteran and former health care executive. Gov. Walz hasn’t announced whether he plans to run for a third time. pic.twitter.com/CKIV734c7t
— Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) May 6, 2025

Qualls, an Army veteran and former health care executive, is the first Republican to announce a run for governor next year.

While Qualls has campaigned in the past, he has yet to be elected to public office.

In 2022, he lost the GOP endorsement for governor to Dr. Scott Jensen. And in 2020, he unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips’ seat in the 3rd Congressional District.

Incumbent DFL Gov. Tim Walz has not said whether he plans to run for a third term.