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(FOX 9) - U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has won the Democratic primary for Minnesota governor with 89.1% of the votes, beating out six other candidates including former Minnesota State Capitol staffer Kobey Layne. She will face the winner of the Republican primary in the November general election.
LIVE RESULTS: Minnesota governor primary election
Democratic primary results
What we know:
Minnesota has an open governor's race for the first time since 2018. Klobuchar entered the race in January after Gov. Tim Walz announced he would not seek a third term. She had been the leading candidate and had the party endorsement and Walz's backing.
Find live results below.
Who is Amy Klobuchar?
Big picture view:
Klobuchar has been the leading candidate. She has the party endorsement and Walz' backing.
Klobuchar, 66, is in her fourth Senate term, after being the first woman to represent Minnesota in the position – first running in 2006 after a career as a Hennepin County prosecutor. She briefly ran a presidential campaign in 2020.
Since winning her election in 2006, Klobuchar has held a seat in the U.S. Senate, rising to 14th in the Senate in seniority, and the third Democrat in Senate party leadership.
She graduated from Wayzata High School and then went on to earn degrees from Yale University and the University of Chicago Law School.
She is married to John Bessler, and together they have one daughter, Abigail.
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Klobuchar pitches governor's policy proposals
With the Minnesota governor's election six months away, campaign season is heating up. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar held her first policy event as a gubernatorial candidate, outlining her plan to modernize state government and tackle fraud.
In May, Klobuchar announced that Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer would be her running mate for Minnesota governor, putting him in the role of lieutenant governor if they win the election.
On social media, she released the following statement to accompany the announcement, "I'm excited to announce my running mate for Lieutenant Governor: former Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer.
"Ben hasn’t just talked about how to create opportunities in greater Minnesota – he’s actually done it. He knows what it takes to run a small business – he’s run two of them. He knows what it takes to get results by bringing people together – because that’s what he did as mayor.
"Together we’ll bring that energy to every corner of Minnesota."
The Source: Information in this story comes from The Associated Press' election results and FOX 9 reporting.