Republicans’ Top Senate Recruit in Minnesota Says There Is Room for Her ‘Pro-Choice’ Politics

Michele Tafoya doesn’t believe that her support for abortion rights will hurt her campaign for Senate as a Republican in Minnesota.

“There’s more room than people realize” in the GOP for candidates who consider themselves “pro-choice,” Tafoya told NOTUS, shortly after officially announcing her candidacy Wednesday morning, ending months of speculation about her political future.

“I think the president wants a big tent, and I’ve talked to a number of Republicans in Minnesota who want that as well,” Tafoya said. “I have the utmost respect for the other side of the argument, but I think there’s room for both of us.”

Tafoya, a former sportscaster turned conservative media figure, is the Republicans’ first serious candidate in the race to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith, as the party attempts to win its first Senate race in Minnesota since 2002. Some say her support for abortion rights could appeal to some moderate voters.

But it will also test how much conservatives, the overwhelming majority of whom oppose abortion rights, are willing to support a Republican candidate who doesn’t, especially at a time when many anti-abortion Republicans are already angry with the administration for not being hardline enough on the issue.

“Family is incredibly important to me,” she said. “But I’m not going to BS you. I’m a pro-choice Republican. There are some of us out there.”

Tafoya downplayed the importance of her position on abortion rights, saying that the Supreme Court made it a state-based issue after its 2022 ruling. In her interview with NOTUS, Tafoya, who has never run for office before, instead focused most of her comments on what she claimed was ineffective, corrupt and increasingly dangerous Democratic leadership. She blamed the violent clashes between civilians and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis and a burgeoning fraud scandal potentially involving billions of dollars of taxpayer money on Democrats.

“You can’t just move the same old pieces around and expect different results,” she said. “And I think Minnesota is starting to see that clearly. The political elite brought us to this point, and they are not going to save us.”

President Donald Trump and his administration have targeted Minnesota repeatedly since coming back to power, pulling funding from the state and focusing an ICE operation on Minnesota’s Somali population.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, among other Democratic officials, over allegations they had illegally interfered with the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Tafoya declined to say whether she thought the specific investigation was appropriate. But she also said, more broadly, that she thought Walz and Frey had irresponsibly ginned up opposition to ICE’s operations, encouraging average civilians to put themselves in a dangerous situation.

She said the Democratic leaders bear some responsibility for Renee Good’s death earlier this month. She did not blame Good for being shot and killed by an ICE agent, as the White House did.

“I want to take politics out of this,” Tafoya said. “What happened to Good was awful. It was tragic. I hurt for her family. It should not have happened.”

Tafoya’s decision to run is a welcome boost for Senate Republicans, especially after Democrats this month successfully recruited former Rep. Mary Peltola to run in Alaska. It’s also a reminder that, even as Democrats talk with increasing confidence about challenging for control of the Senate in 2026, Republicans are still playing offense in a handful of states held by Democrats.

In addition to Minnesota, Republicans are targeting Democratic-held seats in Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan. A victory in any of the four states would all but guarantee that Republicans would retain control of the chamber next year.

Democrats need to gain a net of four Senate seats in 2026 to gain majority control of the chamber. In Minnesota, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan are battling in a competitive primary for the party’s nomination.

Tafoya said she would be “honored” to have Trump’s endorsement in the race but emphasized she was running her own campaign.

“The president has his own timeline, and if he wants to support or endorse, I would welcome it,” she said.

Tafoya defended Trump’s track record on affordability, another issue that’s dominating the midterms cycle so far, blaming inflation on former President Joe Biden and adding that she thought it would take more than a single year to turn around the economy.

Asked whether she thought Trump had the right to enact tariffs unilaterally or if Congress should have a say in the trade issues, Tafoya demurred.

“I’d need the totality of the circumstances,” she said. “I’d want to look at all the information, and so I don’t want to get into hypotheticals with you on tariffs right now.”