Kendall Qualls announces run for MN Governor to packed house

The back room of the Rojo Mexican Grill in St. Louis Park was so packed last night that they had to stop letting people in due to fire codes. The doors to the oppressively hot room were opened to the sidewalk where the overflow crowd stood talking, waiting. I expected people to leave before Qualls began speaking, but they stayed. The last time I was in a room that hot with a packed crowd was when my son's band headlined at Station 4 in St. Paul. Both times people stayed because they were excited to be there to see the headliner take the stage and to listen.  

Last night's headliner was business leader Kendall Qualls, who took the stage to announce he is running to be Minnesota's next governor.

Despite the heat, there were smiles on the faces of the strikingly age- and racially-diverse crowd as Qualls delivered a message of hope for the people of Minnesota.

Qualls, who ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2022, lost the nomination to Scott Jensen, who lost to Governor Tim Walz.

I remember Qualls from his 2020 run for the congressional seat eventually occupied by Dean Phillips. I was so impressed by him then that just last week while pondering a hopeless third term under Tim Walz I thought, "I wish Kendall Qualls would throw in his hat again." 

Last night, he did just that.

Yes, Qualls has run unsuccessfully for office before, but Qualls has demonstrated that he doesn't let anything keep him down. His is a quintessentially American story of a boy growing up in an impoverished broken home, working his way through college, serving his country, earning advanced degrees, and becoming a very successful business leader. As detailed on his website, KQforMN.com, Qualls shows he has the backbone to keep fighting to be Minnesota's governor and working hard to help Minnesota be a place where people want to live.

He talked of crime, of the fall of Minneapolis, of the out-of-control spending that led Tim Walz to oversee a financial landslide from an $18 billion surplus to a projected $6 billion deficit, even after inflicting $10 billion in tax hikes on the people of Minnesota. State spending under Walz "...gives drunken sailors a bad name," said Qualls.

He spoke of Minnesotans who have fled to states that have lower taxes and of restoring the broken state so people will "stay in Minnesota and raise families in Minnesota for generations." 

I could feel hope creeping in while fanning my face with his brochure as Qualls spoke. Standing there recalling the conversation I had with my family last weekend about leaving the expensive national embarassment that Minneosta has become for somewhere more liveable, this beautiful place in which generations of our family have lived and died, I thought, "Maybe if we just hold on. Maybe the people of Minnesota have had enough and will vote for change." 

Kendall Qualls seems to embody positive change for Minnesota's future. 

Qualls said we need to "attract the sensible center to join us to restore Minnesota to its former glory." That may worry some conservative Republicans who are already concerned about Minnesota's Republican Party running "just another RINO." But Qualls, who began his speech by congratulating Americans for delivering Donald J. Trump a presidential and popular vote victory and wants Minnesotans to follow suit and vote for change in 2026, seeks to bring everyone who loves Minnesota into the Republican party's newer, bigger tent.

He asked that we close the meeting with a prayer. The people responded with an enthusiastic "Amen" before bursting into applause. 

Kendall Qualls is running for Governor of Minnesota in 2026. There will be other candidates, and I will address them here as well. I left last night wanting to learn more about what this man, who seems to love Minnesota as much as I do, will do to save it. The people who came to hear him speak last night gave him a very warm welcome. I stepped into the cool breeze of a bustling city street with something I haven't had in too long--hope.