Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeats GOP challenger Royce White

Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Tuesday defeated Republican challenger Royce White, winning her fourth six-year term in the Senate.

The Minnesota senator has achieved high popularity since she was first elected in 2006, easily defeating her previous two Republican challengers with more than 60% of the vote. With nearly half the votes tallied Tuesday night, she was again approaching the 60% mark.

White, a former professional basketball player and Black Lives Matter protester, is Klobuchar’s most unconventional challenger yet. He’s a political novice and provocateur who’s an ally of Republican strategist and media executive Steve Bannon, who was recently released from jail. He first ran in the Republican primary for Minnesota’s Fifth District in 2022.

Klobuchar hasn’t been on the ballot since 2018, two years before her unsuccessful presidential campaign. The country has become increasingly polarized since she last ran for re-election.

A former Hennepin County prosecutor, Klobuchar has pitched herself as a pragmatist, someone who’s worked with Republicans throughout her career to lower prescription drug prices, help veterans and advocate for more housing and child care.

A Minnesota Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 poll conducted in mid-September found Klobuchar held a 51% to 40% lead over White among likely voters. Klobuchar has outraised and outspent White by significant margins. The senator had nearly $4.3 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 16, according to her federal campaign finance report, while White reported about $80,000.

Control of the U.S. Senate is up for grabs, with 34 of the chamber’s 100 seats up for election. Democrats currently control the chamber, and Klobuchar serves as chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. She also serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee and has said she wants to finish the bipartisan farm bill this year.

The two candidates disagreed substantially on major issues.

On immigration, Klobuchar said she wanted to secure the border and push for immigration reforms while White supported closing the border entirely.

Klobuchar believes women should have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions when it comes to IVF, contraception and abortion. She supports the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify abortion protections into law. White says life begins at conception.

White has portrayed himself as a disrupter of the status quo, saying he’s running for the Senate to “close the border, pay back the debt and stop getting involved in forever wars.” He is the first Black candidate to be endorsed by a major party in Minnesota for U.S. Senate.

The two candidates sparred throughout the campaign. In a recent debate, Klobuchar repeatedly raised White’s claims on social media that “the bad guys won in World War II” and that there were “no good guys in that war.” She called his stance offensive to veterans.

Royce decried the “permanent political class” during the debate and referred to the two major political parties as the “uniparty.”

The two also differed on whether the United States should get involved in foreign wars. White said he supports a strong military, but “as a general principle, I don’t want us to be on both sides of every war.”

Klobuchar pointed out that the U.S. plays a major role in global security, but needs to strike a balance between maintaining a strong domestic economy and investing in the military. She decried Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his alliances with North Korea, China and Iran.

On Tuesday night, Royce posted on X: “No matter what happens tonight, we’re not going anywhere. America is on a comeback.”