Republican Kendall Qualls filed paperwork Thursday that will allow him to raise money for a 2026 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign.
Qualls, a GOP activist, Army veteran and former health care executive, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2020 and for governor in 2022. His campaign declined an interview request, citing a formal campaign announcement early next week.
It’s not yet clear whether Democratic Gov. Tim Walz will run for a third term in 2026. Qualls is the first prominent Republican to enter the race, though Walz’s 2022 opponent, Scott Jensen, recently told the Star Tribune he is “strongly considering” another run.
Other possible GOP challengers include former attorney general candidate Jim Schultz and attorney Chris Madel.
Qualls, who would be Minnesota’s first Black governor if elected, is also the founder of a nonprofit organization called TakeCharge that promotes two-parent families and opposes critical race theory.
“A lot of Minnesotans and a lot of Americans are getting fatigued by the wokeness, the left, the bullying and the accusations of racism,” Qualls told the Star Tribune in 2022. “Let’s make a distinction: We have racist people in this country who do bad stuff, I fully acknowledge that … but the country is not systemically racist.”
Qualls’ candidacy was first reported by KSTP.
