At a Thursday appearance in St. Paul, Minnesota Republican gubernatorial nominee Lisa Demuth made affordability a central argument for ending the U.S. war in Iran. She said the conflict is driving up grocery, gasoline and fertilizer costs for Minnesotans, squeezing both families and farmers.
Demuth’s comments also drew a distinction between her position and President Donald Trump’s, while acknowledging she has no authority over federal policy as a state legislator. She said she would work with Trump to the best of her ability if elected governor. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that her remarks were her most pointed break with Trump during the campaign and that his approval rating was at a record low.
Other Republicans have also called for an end to the conflict. The Star Tribune reported that Rep. Tom Tiffany urged Trump to exit the war on September 22 and that Michigan Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers said earlier that week that it must end quickly. Former Fox Sports personality Michele Tafoya told WCCO that the administration should state the war’s objective clearly and bring U.S. soldiers home.
It was not the first such vote this year. On September 15, the U.S. House approved a war powers resolution directing Trump to end military hostilities in Iran by a 220-204 margin, with seven House Republicans defecting, as Hoodline reported in House votes again to limit Trump's war powers. That marked the third time this year the House has tried to rein in the president's war-making authority, per the Associated Press.
Klobuchar's campaign wasted little time attacking the timing of Demuth's statement. Darwin Forsyth, speaking for the campaign, said per a statement that Demuth's response was half-hearted, and that Demuth had refused for seven months to oppose Trump's Iran war. Forsyth added that Minnesotans need a governor who will stand up to Trump when they are hurting.
Gas Tax Fight Ties Into Affordability Push
Demuth is folding her Iran war comments into a broader affordability pitch. She plans to seek affordability measures in Minnesota and has said she will work to eliminate a law indexing the state's gas tax. The law indexes Minnesota's gas tax to inflation. The Minnesota Legislature approved the indexing law under Walz and legislative Democrats in 2023.
Klobuchar has approached fuel prices from a different angle. In March, she urged federal officials to expand domestic E15 sales to help lower gasoline prices amid the Iran war, according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
What the available price data show
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly series lists Minnesota regular gasoline at $4.223 per gallon for the week of September 14 and $4.343 for the week of September 21, the two reported observations before Demuth’s September 24 statement. The series supplied here has no post-statement reading, and the timing alone does not establish that the Iran conflict caused the increase. For groceries, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Minneapolis-St. Paul-area food-at-home prices rose 2.8 percent over the year ending in November 2025; that historical measure does not establish an effect from the conflict. See the EIA gasoline price series and BLS consumer price data.
A Pattern of Distance From Trump
Demuth's Iran statement is not her first moment of distance from the president. Trump endorsed Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow, in the Republican primary for Minnesota governor, but Demuth won the August nomination anyway. She had distributed literature at the state GOP convention saying she fights and wins for the MAGA agenda, and has also called Canada tariffs damaging.
Demuth said she must increase rural voter turnout in Minnesota to win in November, a challenge underscored by the party's history: the Minnesota Republican Party has not won a statewide contest since former Gov. Tim Pawlenty was re-elected in 2006, according to PBS News. Walz won a second term as governor in 2022, extending Democrats' hold on the office. Democrats are also running competitive statewide campaigns this cycle in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas and Texas — all states Trump carried in 2024.
Money Pours In as Race Tightens
The financial gap between the two campaigns remains stark even as the race heats up. As of mid-September, Klobuchar had raised more than $13 million with $3.5 million cash on hand, compared with Demuth's $2.6 million raised, according to MPR News. Outside spending has helped close that gap: the PAC Restore Sanity, backed largely by Wisconsin manufacturing billionaire Richard Uihlein, had raised $14 million, spending more than $4.3 million to boost Demuth and $2.7 million attacking Klobuchar.
The stakes for whoever wins in November extend well beyond the governor's office itself. Minnesota's 134-seat House remains deadlocked at 67-67, and the state Senate holds a 34-33 DFL majority, as detailed in Hoodline's earlier coverage of Minnesota's tied statehouse races.
