Former tv sports activities reporter Michele Tafoya has filed to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Republican, in keeping with federal filings submitted Tuesday afternoon.
Tafoya is searching for the open seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, as Republicans goal a pickup alternative in a state the GOP has not received statewide since 2006, when then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty was reelected.
A Republican has not been elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota since Norm Coleman in 2002.
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CBS Information can affirm Tafoya met final week with the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, in keeping with Republican sources acquainted with the assembly. The Senate GOP’s marketing campaign arm has been recruiting Tafoya since Smith introduced she wouldn’t search reelection, as Republicans look to defend their present 53–47 majority within the higher chamber throughout this 12 months’s midterm elections. Tafoya’s assembly with the NRSC was first reported by Fox Information.
Tafoya is getting into a packed Republican main that options former NBA participant Royce White, the party’s unsuccessful Senate nominee in 2024, together with former Minnesota GOP chair David Hann, U.S. Navy veteran Tom Weiler, and former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze.
On the Democratic facet, a competitive primary can also be taking form between progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and centrist Democratic Rep. Angie Craig. In a recent interview with Newsweek, Craig that she believes Congress ought to impeach Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem following the shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in south Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.
Tafoya spent a few decade as a sideline reporter for NBC Sports activities’ “NBC Sunday Night time Soccer” earlier than ending her tenure in 2021. She additionally had stints throughout her lengthy sports activities broadcasting profession with ABC Sports activities, ESPN and CBS Sports activities. In 2022, she served as co-chair for Kendall Qualls, a Republican gubernatorial candidate who is running again on this 12 months’s governor’s race.
