U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before he departs en route to Norfolk, Virginia to attend the 250th Anniversary of the Navy celebration, from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 5, 2025. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

Minnesota Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in nearly 20 years, and a panel of past and present elected Republicans on Tuesday said that emulating President Donald Trump is not a winning formula, at least in Minnesota.

Trump has lost the state three times, so Trump’s bombastic and divisive politics won’t win statewide elections, said former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty during a panel at a business summit hosted by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The goal for Republicans, Pawlenty said, is to find a candidate who can satisfy the right-wing base while appealing to Independents and moderate Democrats.

“That’s a tightrope walk … but that’s not something that’s easy to do in today’s Republican Party,” Pawlenty said.

The former two-term GOP governor said he had considered running for Sen. Tina Smith’s seat once she retires, but he would never get endorsed or win a primary today. Pawlenty represents the old suburban, pro-business Republican Party. He once called Trump “unsound, uninformed” and “unhinged,” which made his electoral prospects in the GOP largely untenable, absent the kind of groveling to Trump that Pawlenty isn’t likely to pursue. In 2018, when Pawlenty tried to come back, he lost the GOP primary for governor to Jeff Johnson.

Right-wing activists, who have endorsed far-right candidates like avowed antisemite Royce White for U.S. Senate, have emerged as a powerful force in today’s Minnesota Republican Party.

Minnesota Republican Sens. Julia Coleman and Zach Duckworth, who were also on the panel, agreed that candidates matter. Coleman and Duckworth both outperformed Trump in their districts in 2022.

“We’re not trying to be Donald Trump,” said Coleman, who has matched her image as a working mom to pro-family policies like a paid leave plan comporting with Republican economic philosophy.

Duckworth spent time on his local school board. Education is not usually friendly Republican terrain, but it could be a good issue next year with parents frustrated at Minnesota’s academic standing.

All GOP panelists agreed Republicans have a good shot to get a few wins in next year’s midterm elections. Fraud in state government has been all over the headlines; the majority of students aren’t meeting grade-level expectations; and Gov. Tim Walz’s bid for an unprecedented consecutive third, four-year term will all create a solid opportunity for Republicans to outperform expectations.

“(Walz’s) numbers are softer than they used to be, which sort of creates a window or a band of opportunity for Republicans if they nominate at least a serviceable candidate,” Pawlenty said.

But that is a big “if.”

Mike Lindell, the right-wing influencer and pillow salesman is mulling a run for governor. If he wins the Republican endorsement, all of his baggage, including his years spent spreading disinformation about the 2020 election, will be fodder for the Democrats’ well-funded campaign.

Other major Republican candidates are 2022 GOP nominee Scott Jensen, a physician who served a term in the state Senate; Kendall Qualls, a failed candidate for Congress and governor, an Army veteran and former health care executive; and Rep. Kristin Robbins of the west metro.

It’s also not enough to criticize the state of the state, Pawlenty said. To be successful Republicans need to paint a positive vision for Minnesota’s future.

“You can’t just say, ‘They suck,’” Pawlenty said. “We have to say, ‘Here’s what we’ll do better.’”