Klobuchar elected governor: What happens to Senate seat?

After an eventful and a historic election day, the votes are in and there is a lot to talk about here in Minnesota and, of course, around the country. There's a big night for Democrats. We're going live to our Bill Keller at the state capitol, highlighting the race for governor and what's next there at the state capitol. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, Tom and Hannah. In fact, it was a very good morning for Minnesota DFL members, which pulled off a trifecta here at the state capitol, not only keeping control of the governor's office, but they won the majority in both the statehouse and the Senate. And exactly two months from today, Amy Klobuchar will be sworn in as Minnesota's 42nd governor. Klobuchar defeating House Speaker Lisa Dame at 56, to 44% during her victory speech last night, the four-term senator explaining why she joined the race for governor when Governor Tim Walz dropped out and dropped his bid for re-election. I look back at the year Minnesota had, losing Melissa and Mark, the shooting of the Hoffmans, the kids in the church, the 3,000 ICE agents, the serious fraud problem, and the affront on trust in our government. You know I've loved my job in the Senate, but I love our state more. Yeah, as the results then came in, the writing was on the wall for House Speaker Lisa Dame, who addressed the GOP supporters, calling it a, quote, long evening, adding that the nearly 13% defeat is not the result she was hoping for Minnesota. As our state moves forward, there are still things that need to be fixed and done. And my request of all of you is that we work together and we hold people accountable for the changes and protections that need to happen. Now with Klobuchar heading to the governor's mansion comes the obvious question, well what will happen with her Senate seat and when? Well first, Klobuchar needs to resign from the U.S. Senate before transitioning to governor, but who fills her seat is all about timing. If she steps down before being inaugurated, Governor Tim Walz will be the one to appoint a temporary senator, but if Klobuchar chooses to remain in the Senate until she is sworn in as governor, then she herself could actually be the one to appoint. Either way, the special election will be held next November with the winner serving out the balance of her term, which runs until 2031. Klobuchar's inauguration ceremony will take place on January 4th when the 66-year-old becomes the first woman to serve as the governor of Minnesota. Tom and Hannah. All right, thanks so much. Bill Keller, live from the state capitol. Minnesotans looking ahead to what comes next after the election with Amy Klobuchar headed to the governor's office. We know that there will be a special election to fill her Senate seat next year. Fox nine political analyst Boyce Olson joining us now to unpack some of these results. Let's just start with we don't have official voter turnout numbers, but we know early voting beat a record. What do you think that tells us about? How Minnesotans are feeling, just this big push out to the polls? We actually know that there was about 800,000 more voters, or 300,000 more voters in this midterm in Minnesota than 2018, and about 400,000 more than 2022. So that surge does tell us that we did have very, very high midterm turnout. And we saw that those votes shifted. They didn't shift in just one place. First, they shifted in rural Minnesota. Towards Democrats, especially in the ag economy. Second, in the exurbs, you look at places like Corcoran. Prior Lake, other places, Shakopee, where Republicans held, where they flipped seats. And then Republicans barely held on in places like Stillwater and Carver. And so it's multiple places where Democrats just increased their numbers. Now that we know Senator Klobuchar will be Governor Klobuchar, it will likely be her choice who she chooses to succeed her in Washington. Will it be her decision? Will there be a kind of a mutual kind of decision with the party? How does that work? Do you know anything about Senator Klobuchar? This is her decision. She's the dean of the Democratic Party. She's 20 years as this top vote getter here. She's the leader. You heard even in the debate, in her style, I do these things. That's how she operates on a daily basis. She will have advisors do the pros and cons, but she's also a relationship person. One of the reasons she picked Ben Shearer, Lieutenant Governor, is she really likes mayors because they've run something and she had a relationship with them. She works with people she can trust and she's not going to send somebody to fill her seat that either she can't trust or, I kind of think of it this way, her old colleagues in D.C. are going to send her texts and be like, who'd you send to fill your seat? Because that club of 100 is a special club and she's going to make sure. That somebody can at least try to fill her shoes. It's quite the fraternity, if you will. Yes. Thank you, Blaise. All right. Thank you, Blaise. We'll be chatting with you here again soon. Appreciate it.