Former sports activities reporter Michele Tafoya recordsdata to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota

Former tv sports activities reporter Michele Tafoya has filed to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Republican, in line with federal filings submitted Tuesday afternoon. She launched a marketing campaign video asserting she’s leaping into the race Wednesday morning.

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.

“I feel Minnesota is in a disaster,” Tafoya advised CBS Minnesota station WCCO in an unique interview. “I feel we have now a disaster in management and I feel the profession politicians that obtained us right here aren’t going to get us out.”

“When it comes to coverage, we have got a middle-class disaster,” Tafoya mentioned. “We have got households struggling to pay lease, to pay mortgages, to place groceries on the desk. Vitality prices want to come back down. Colleges must do higher.”

Requested whether or not she helps President Trump’s financial insurance policies regardless of these struggles, Tafoya pointed to the reducing of gasoline costs and up to date studies of rising GDP.

“It is solely been a 12 months, so let’s have a look at what occurs right here early 2026.”

CBS Information can verify Tafoya met final week with the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, in line with Republican sources accustomed to 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 coming into a packed Republican main that options former NBA participant Royce White, the celebration’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 aggressive main can be taking form between progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and centrist Democratic Rep. Angie Craig. In a latest interview with Newsweek, Craig mentioned she believes Congress ought to impeach Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem following the taking pictures loss of life of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in south Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this month.

Hundreds of federal brokers stay within the Twin Cities as a part of a broader crackdown on immigration and an escalating rhetorical and judicial struggle between the Trump administration and native officers like Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

“What I would not do is fire up this hatred for legislation enforcement,” Tafoya asserted. “Nobody has labored to calm the difficulty and say, ‘Everybody let’s take a breath. Everyone calm down. If you wish to peacefully protest, that is OK.’ What I’ve seen is the governor and the mayor stir folks up and create this atmosphere the place they really feel they need to throw their vehicles and their our bodies between legislation enforcement and their mission. That is not how you will get peace and normalcy right here.”

In whole, roughly 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol brokers have been dispatched to the Twin Cities, a pressure that’s almost 5 instances the dimensions of the Minneapolis police division, which employs about 600 officers.

Tafoya advised WCCO, “I need public security and I again legislation enforcement. So I would love it if Minnesota’s legislation enforcement may work with federal legislation enforcement to make this as protected and as peaceable for everybody. That retains the officers protected and that retains the general public protected.”

Tafoya spent a couple of 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’s operating once more on this 12 months’s governor’s race.