Royce White, fresh off loss to Amy Klobuchar, announces he will run for Senate again in 2026

Royce White, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate who failed to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar this election, will try again to make it to Washington in 2026.

“This morning, I’m announcing that I fully intend to run against Tina Smith for U.S. Senate in 2026,” White posted on X Thursday. “The campaign starts TODAY! I did better than any other opponent against Amy Klobuchar and we really were just getting started.”

White’s 16-point margin of defeat is indeed the closest a Republican candidate has gotten to Klobuchar in her four runs for U.S. Senate. But in terms of raw totals, Republican Mark Kennedy trailed Klobuchar by 56,435 less votes in 2006 than White did in 2024.

While White has raised controversy with his history of antisemitic remarks, civil judgments for unpaid child support and a campaign finance complaint, he nonetheless gained the Minnesota Republican Party’s endorsement this summer and followed it up with a primary victory.

Two years earlier, he ran for U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s 5th Congressional District seat but fell to Cicely Davis in the Republican primary.

White has not filed any official paperwork, so he could still commit to running for a different statewide office.

Replying to his Senate candidacy announcement, he teased a possible run for governor instead: “Or should I challenge Tim Walz?”