Former sportscaster Michele Tafoya won the Minnesota GOP Senate primary Tuesday, clearing a key hurdle in her bid for the seat now held by Sen. Tina Smith. The Michele Tafoya Senate primary victory puts the four-time Emmy Award winner on track for a November campaign built around her pitch as a political outsider.
Tafoya spent more than a decade on NFL sidelines as a reporter for ABC and ESPN’s Monday Night Football before later working on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. She entered the race after Smith, a Democrat, announced last February that she would not seek a second term. On X just hours before polls closed, Tafoya said Minnesota was in play and argued Republicans had a real chance to flip the seat and defeat what she called far-left socialist Democrats in November.
Her campaign has centered on themes that resonate with conservative voters: fraud enforcement, tougher prison terms for convicted fraudsters, and deporting illegal migrants who steal taxpayer money. She has also said she would fight efforts to abolish ICE, back the SAVE Act in Congress, and push to get men out of women’s sports. Her path received support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which backed her Senate bid during the primary.
Tafoya’s win came despite a lack of support from President Trump, who did not endorse her. Minnesota Republicans also chose former Marine and Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze over her at the party’s convention in May, making the primary outcome a notable turn inside the state’s GOP ranks. Even so, Tafoya advanced with a profile far outside the usual political class, something she has emphasized throughout the race.
