Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith won’t seek reelection in 2026

Minnesota’s Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection in 2026, a decision that could open up a competitive Democratic primary as the party faces a challenging Senate map next year.

Minnesota’s Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection in 2026, a decision that could open up a competitive Democratic primary as the party faces a challenging Senate map next year. “I’ve decided not to run for re-election to the Senate in 2026,” Smith wrote on social media, sharing a video with her announcement. “This job has been the honor of a lifetime. For the rest of my term, I’ll work as hard as I can for Minnesotans and our country.” It opens up a Senate seat in a state that has shown signs of erosion for Democrats, despite Minnesota’s long history of voting blue. President Joe Biden won the state by 7 points in 2020, while Vice President Kamala Harris won by 4 points in 2024. Smith won her race in 2020 by about 5 points. And it follows the exit of another Midwestern Democrat, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who announced last month that he also was not seeking reelection in 2026. The prospect of defending two open seats in 2026, where Democrats had previously expected the advantage of incumbency, could strain the party’s campaign budget, threatening efforts to expand its current 47-seat minority. And both races are occurring in states that moved toward Republicans in 2024. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson David Bergstein reacted to Smith’s decision in a statement, saying, “No Republican has won a Minnesota Senate race in over 20 years and Democrats will continue to hold this seat in 2026.”