U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar promised to “transform” Minnesota’s government if elected governor in the fall, announcing a plan Sunday, May 3, to reduce fraud while speeding up business permitting, state services and homebuilding.

Klobuchar pitched herself as a force for change as she works to counter Republicans on the campaign trail arguing she represents an extension of Gov. Tim Walz’s administration, which struggled to contain sprawling fraud problems in Minnesota’s social services programs.

Walz ended his bid for a third term amid a growing drumbeat of fraud scandals.

Klobuchar said she would have done some things differently than Walz and that her experience prosecuting crime as Hennepin County Attorney would help in addressing fraud.

“I don’t like the status quo, I wouldn’t be running for governor if I wanted to have things remain the same,” Klobuchar said, speaking from an event center in downtown St. Paul.

Walz has taken steps to combat fraud, like ending a housing stabilization services program. But Republicans and DFLers alike have said the governor didn’t do enough.

Klobuchar said Walz has acknowledged he wish he caught the widespread fraud issues earlier, but she added: “The minute I would have heard that this [fraud] was happening, if I was there and had access to the information, I would have looked at where are the programs where we’re starting to see ballooning budgets.”

Klobuchar entered the governor’s race in late January, but until now the DFLer had said little about what she wants to do in office. Klobuchar says she is busy with her job as U.S. senator. But the lack of details about what her priorities would be as a governor drew criticism from Republicans.

“Plain and simple: four terms of Democrat control of the executive branch have doubled our state budget, raised taxes by billions and enabled a culture of fraud that has stolen billions more,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth in a written statement. “Amy Klobuchar wants to triple down on the Walz Era. I’m running for governor to fix the mess Tim Walz has left in his wake, and return our state to common sense that’s been missing for far too long.”

Republicans have yet to settle on who their nominee for governor will be. The crowded field includes Demuth, a Republican from Cold Spring who will play a major role in negotiating anti-fraud legislation with Walz in the final weeks of the legislative session.

Former health care executive Kendall Qualls and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are also running for the office.

Klobuchar’s first proposals might gain DFL support but did not represent a flashy wish list of progressive ideas.

For instance, Klobuchar highlighted her desire to replace decades-old technology systems in state government, an idea that Republicans and DFLers support at the Legislature. Klobuchar said if she had been governor instead of Walz, she would have spent some of the state’s historic surplus on system upgrades.

“I would have actually put some of that money from that surplus into some things that just aren’t that glamorous,” she said.

Klobuchar’s fraud plan includes an audit of state agencies, tougher criminal penalties for fraud, creating a permanent ban on state grants and contracts for anyone convicted of fraud and more oversight like in-person inspections.

“We just need to find the will to get them done,” Klobuchar said.

Many of her proposals overlap with ideas raised by Walz and legislators, including Republicans who want more in-person and unannounced site visits and an independent inspector general to investigate fraud in state programs.

State Rep. Kristin Robbins, a Maple Grove Republican who chairs the House’s fraud prevention committee, said much of what Klobuchar pitched sounds like things Republicans have been asking for. But Robbins said the details of her plans will matter, and that Klobuchar has been “completely absent” on the issue in the U.S. Senate, which calls her credibility into question.

While her primary focus Sunday was fraud, Klobuchar mentioned other priorities. She said Minnesota needs to quickly build more housing. She also proposed making state services more accessible on cellphones and argued Minnesota should make it easier for people to obtain permits and start businesses.

In addition, Klobuchar said she would make changes to who is running state agencies and push for “some outside look” at agencies with problems.

Klobuchar was backed at the news conference by former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger, who prosecuted cases relating to the Feeding our Future fraud scheme centered on food programs for children.

Luger said after his office announced indictments in the Feeding our Future scandal, Klobuchar called and asked him if he had enough resources to address the issue. Luger said he needed more prosecutors when there had been fierce competition for funds to hire them.

“After she talked to me, Amy Klobuchar immediately called the leadership of the Department of Justice and argued for us,” Luger said. “Not one U.S. senator around the country did that for their U.S. Attorneys’ office.”

Luger said his office won the largest number of new prosecutors, and that helped lead to the indictment of more than 70 people in the Feeding Our Future scandal.

When Klobuchar entered the race for governor, she became the immediate frontrunner for the DFL and is not facing a serious primary challenge.

Klobuchar raised $4.85 million in the first quarter of 2026, a staggering amount that further solidified her as formidable opponent for Republicans in Minnesota, where the GOP has not won a statewide election in 20 years.

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