Steve Hallstrom’s conversation with Michele Tafoya
MINNESOTA – Conservative podcast host and former Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya says she’s 90 percent of the way toward making a decision on whether to run for Senate in Minnesota.
Democratic Senator Tina Smith announced last week she will not run for reelection next year. She wants to spend more time with her family.
“When Tina Smith made her announcement, my phone practically exploded. I’ve been talking to everyone from (Republican South Carolina Senator) Tim Scott to people here locally, people in the establishment, but the ultimate thing for me is my family,” Tafoya said.
The broadcaster adds she’s thought a lot about running for office for a number of years. She says she needs to consider how long she will be a Minnesotan and adds her family comes first.
Tafoya says she has tried to get Alpha News author and Emmy-winning TV reporter and anchor Liz Collin to run, but believes she is doing “what she wants to do right now.” She also thinks Kendall Qualls who ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022 and won the GOP nomination for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District in 2020 could have a good shot at winning.
“I think Minnesota is starving for a moderate Republican who doesn’t tell them that they’re going to ban abortion who is the antithesis of the Tim Walz regime,” Tafoya explained.
On the Democratic side, despite rumors Minnesota Governor Tim Walz may run for Senate, Tafoya doesn’t believe he will. She also doesn’t believe he will run for a third term as governor. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan said on social media she’s running for the seat. Tafoya believes she’s more liberal than Walz. Tafoya adds former Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president last year against President Joe Biden, told her he’s not running for governor or Senate. Tafoya says he could still be recruited and change his mind.
