Sen. Amy Klobuchar launched her Democratic bid for governor Thursday, vowing to unify the state and move beyond a deadly battle with the federal government over immigration.

“These days we need leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamped by the administration,” Klobuchar said in her announcement video. “But there will be others who will try to find common ground and fix things in our state.”

Klobuchar, who has worked in Washington for 20 years, is governing Minnesota during a very difficult time. The state has been the epicenter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and there has been a wave of anger and protests, particularly after two fatal shootings of protesters by federal agents.

“I can’t explain how hard this is,” she said. “But in this extremely difficult moment, we find strength in the Minnesota values ​​of hard work, freedom, simple decency and goodwill.”

Her formal entry into the race comes after Gov. Tim Walz ended his bid for re-election in the wake of a deepening federal investigation into widespread fraud in Minnesota’s welfare programs. More than a dozen Republicans had run for governor in hopes of running against Walz, but they withdrew from the race in protest of what one candidate called “retaliation against the state’s citizens” two days after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Preti.

Minnesota is currently at the forefront of a heated debate over the politics of immigration enforcement and the use of federal power, a national test of whether actions by President Donald Trump’s administration are considered excessive or justified.

Klobuchar, 65, has long been seen as one of Minnesota’s most popular leaders in election after election. In Minnesota, she could face one of her biggest political tests yet as she seeks to unify a state embroiled in a bitter battle over immigration policy in critical midterm elections for governor, Senate and House seats.

In a four-minute campaign video, Ms. Klobuchar did not explicitly mention Mr. Trump by name or the broader immigration problems facing the state, but denounced the “3,000 ICE agents on our streets and in our towns, sent by an administration that enjoys division.”

“I’m asking Minnesotans across this state to keep their heads down, to keep their eyes open,” Klobuchar said. “We’re asking you to look to each other.”

Friends said that when she debated whether to remain in the Senate or run for governor, she often talked about the appeal of serving as chief executive without the constraints of a dysfunctional Legislature.

She joins a long list of members of both parties who are retiring or looking for jobs away from Washington, but she has no intention of resigning when she embarks on a campaign. If Klobuchar wins in November, she could resign and allow Walz to appoint a replacement or allow her to choose one herself once she becomes governor. If he loses, he could be sent back for the final four years of his Senate term.

State politics have been in turmoil since Walz withdrew from his bid for reelection on Jan. 5. Two days later, ICE agents killed 37-year-old Minneapolis woman Renee Good.

Klobuchar began considering a run for governor long before Goode’s death rocked Minnesota and Preti’s killing intensified the chaos. While considering her campaign, she told CNN: “Minnesota is now at the heart of America’s heartbreak.”

Party strategists say she is expected to largely wipe out Democratic candidates, although some progressive leaders have not ruled out running a candidate to challenge her in the primary.

Klobuchar previously served as Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis and won her first election to the U.S. Senate in 2006 with 58% of the vote. She performed reasonably well in four Senate elections, winning by a landslide. Her closest challenge came in 2024, which she also won by 16 points.

In this highly polarized moment, Klobuchar’s ability to appeal to voters across political lines will be tested once again. But the number of voters casting split votes has fallen dramatically, a sign of the state’s changing bipartisan nature, party strategists say.

“I’m asking Democrats, independents and Republicans to join my campaign,” Klobuchar said in her announcement video. “This is a homegrown piece born of a unique moment. It’s for people who believe in something bigger than themselves.”

Klobuchar has not completely ruled out running for president again, as she did in 2020, but aides have acknowledged that if she wins, it would be difficult for her to run in the 2028 Democratic primary because she would have to start campaigning in the first year of her term as governor.

Minnesota’s gubernatorial race is already a crowded field of Republicans, including Lisa Demuth, speaker of the Minnesota House and the state’s top Republican, in a heated primary race. Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow and a right-wing conspiracy theorist, is also running for office.

A Republican hasn’t won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006, and Chris Madel, a Minneapolis lawyer who withdrew his candidacy for governor in protest of federal immigration crackdowns, cited this point in his criticism of the national Republican Party.

“The national Republican Party has made it nearly impossible for Republicans to win elections across the state of Minnesota,” Madel said.

Klobuchar, the state’s senior senator, urged the Trump administration to reconsider its focus on Minnesota. Minnesota is the scene of the largest immigration enforcement action in the state’s history by officials after Preti, an intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, was killed on January 24 while protesting against federal agents.

“To Donald Trump and all of his lieutenants who ordered this ICE surge, watch the horrifying video of today’s killing. The world is watching,” Klobuchar said in a social media post after Pretty’s death. “Get ICE out of Minnesota now.”

While some progressives have called for abolishing ICE and other Democrats like Klobuchar have advocated for a more nuanced approach, many Republicans have accused local Democratic officials of encouraging protesters to confront federal immigration officials.

The White House has signaled it will back away from some of its hard-line positions on the Minnesota immigration operation, mindful that what advisers acknowledge Americans are seeing with their own eyes puts them on the wrong side of public opinion. This calculation, at least in part, could be litigated at the polls.

When Walz withdrew his bid for reelection, he said he didn’t want to get in the way of a deepening investigation in the state of fraud in social services programs meant to feed children during the pandemic. He has not been accused of wrongdoing, but has faced criticism for failing to act quickly.

More than 90 people have been charged in the prosecutions, which began during the Biden administration. Trump’s allies have cited Somalis as the basis for launching Operation Metro Surge, even though many of those indicted are of Somali descent and many members of the Twin Cities’ Somali community are U.S. citizens.

Massive fraud is expected to be a central issue in the gubernatorial race, but the administration’s actions in Minnesota have complicated the federal investigation.

Six federal prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office, including the leader of the fraud investigation, resigned over the Justice Department’s decision to investigate the widow of Good, a woman killed by ICE agents rather than the gunman.

If elected, Klobuchar has promised to strengthen accountability reform in state government and prioritize punishing those who steal taxpayer money meant for food and housing programs, Medicaid services and other social programs.

“I don’t like fraud and waste in government, which is why I pursued crimes as county attorney,” Klobuchar said. “I will root out fraud by making sure those who steal taxpayer money are sent to prison and by changing the way our state government operates.”