MINNEAPOLIS — Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth promised to fire every state commissioner on her first day as governor, drawing a sharp rebuke from Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who called the plan "absurd" during the candidates' second debate this week. The clash, first reported by Fox News Politics, put Minnesota's sprawling fraud scandals and the legacy of Gov. Tim Walz at the center of the governor's race.
"Fraud unchecked here in the state of Minnesota has gone far too long, and it has finally come to the surface," Demuth said during the debate, according to remarks relayed by WKXB FM. Demuth, who has served as speaker of the Minnesota House, argued that the state's oversight failures demand a wholesale removal of the agency heads who presided over them.
Klobuchar fired back, calling the mass-firing pledge "absurd" and defending her own response to the scandals. She said she contacted U.S. Attorney Andy Luger after the fraud came to light to ask what prosecutors needed. Klobuchar also said she would have caught the fraud earlier, while criticizing Walz's handling of the situation.
"Tim Walz should have caught the fraud earlier and he should have done more," Klobuchar said, according to WKXB FM.
The exchange highlighted the central question facing voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election: how much change they want when they choose Walz's successor. The scandals have rocked the North Star State, raising questions about how large-scale abuse of state programs went undetected and putting government oversight at the center of the governor's race.
Both candidates have promised to rein in one of the state's biggest issues, according to reporting by Fox News Politics, but they offered sharply different prescriptions. Demuth's plan would eliminate the entire roster of commissioners on day one, a move that would dramatically reshape state government and signal a break from the Walz administration's approach. Klobuchar's response focused on federal coordination and her own record, while dismissing Demuth's plan as unserious.
Klobuchar also drew a line between Demuth and former President Donald Trump, who remains popular among Minnesota Republicans.
"We don't need a rubber stamp of Donald Trump in the governor's office," Klobuchar said, per WKXB FM.
The debate was the second of the week for the two candidates, who are locked in a contest to succeed Walz. The governor's race has increasingly focused on fraud and mismanagement, with Republicans arguing that Democratic leadership allowed waste and abuse to fester. Democrats, meanwhile, have sought to frame the election as a choice between experienced governance and what they characterize as extreme proposals.
Demuth's vow to fire all commissioners on day one is a direct challenge to the administrative state in St. Paul. It remains unclear which specific commissioners would be targeted or how the firings would be implemented, and Demuth's campaign did not immediately provide further details. Klobuchar's campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the debate.
The fraud scandals have not been fully detailed in public reporting, and it is not yet known which programs were affected or how much money was lost. The candidates' disagreement over the proper response — wholesale firings versus federal prosecutorial coordination — will likely dominate the final weeks of the campaign.
Our Take
Lisa Demuth is saying what most Minnesotans are thinking: the people running these agencies failed, and failure should have consequences. The fraud didn't happen in a vacuum — it happened on the watch of commissioners who collect six-figure salaries to oversee exactly this kind of abuse. Firing them all on day one isn't "absurd"; it's accountability.
Amy Klobuchar's response is telling. Instead of acknowledging that the system she's defended for years let fraud fester, she calls the cleanup plan absurd and invokes Donald Trump as a bogeyman. That's the old playbook: deflect, distract, and pretend the bureaucracy just needs more funding and more trust.
Minnesotans deserve a governor who will clean house, not one who will rubber-stamp the same failed agency heads who looked the other way. Klobuchar says Tim Walz should have done more — but she's the one running to continue his legacy. Why would voters expect different results from the same party machine?
The choice on Nov. 3 is clear: more of the same, or a fresh start. Patriots in Minnesota should remember who stood up for accountability and who called it absurd.
