Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Sunday heralded her plan to target fraud in Minnesota if her campaign to become the state’s next governor is successful.
Klobuchar sought to distance herself from Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who dropped his reelection bid amid accusations he largely turned a blind eye to rampant fraud in taxpayer-funded social services programs, which is now under government investigation. Before he dropped out of the race in January, half of Minnesota voters said fraud concerns would play a major factor in their vote for governor, according to polling from American Experiment.
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Klobuchar, now the presumed Democratic gubernatorial nominee, said “I don’t like the status quo” as she highlighted a plan to strengthen criminal penalties, create a “do not pay” database for people convicted of fraud, and audit government agencies. The plan responds, in part, to allegations by federal prosecutors that Medicaid fraud alone likely costs taxpayers $9 billion in Minnesota.
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“You are right to be angry about the fraud,” Klobuchar said during the St. Paul event. “It is unacceptable, and it must end.”
“I wouldn’t be running for governor if I wanted to have things remain the same. I want to see change,” she added. “My plan is to transform our state government into a government that is innovative, effective, and accountable.”
Minnesota remains under investigation by several federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the FBI, due to corruption concerns. The investigation initially attracted national scrutiny last year when federal prosecutors targeted what they described as a $250 million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future. Dozens have been charged, in what prosecutors said was the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam that exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.
The Feeding Our Futures case was the “tip of a very large iceberg” indicative of a wider scandal, according to authorities. When he visited the state in March, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “ground zero for what may be one of the most egregious welfare scams in our nation’s history to date.”
Joe Thompson, the former first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, said in December 2025 that half or more of the $18 billion billed as services for 14 Minnesota Medicaid programs since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudsters. His words come as roughly 64% of Minnesota’s Medicaid dollars come from federal funds.
“What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes,” Thompson said at a press conference in Minneapolis. “It’s a staggering, industrial-scale fraud. It’s swamping Minnesota and calling into question everything we know about our state.”
On Sunday, Klobuchar vowed to course-correct and approach fraud differently than the incumbent administration.
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“I obviously am going to do things differently than Gov. Walz,” the Democratic senator said. “We have different backgrounds. We’re going to have some different focuses.”
“If I was there and had access to the information, I would have looked at, where are the programs where we are starting to see ballooning budgets, which is something that should be done all the time,” she added. “When can we do these surprise audits and check on things immediately? Those are changes I would make.”
