A former DFL state senator from Edina who led a campaign to help Minnesota Democrats achieve their “trifecta” in 2022 is planning to challenge Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for an open seat in the U.S. Senate.
Melisa López Franzen announced Monday that she will run to replace retiring two-term Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith when Smith’s term expires in 2026.
“Minnesota deserves a leader who will continue to stand up and fight for them—not someone beholden to billionaire donors,” López Franzen said in a press statement Monday.
“I know what it takes to protect the dignity of our neighbors and the next generation, and make sure people get a fair shot at the American dream,” López Franzen said. “That’s the approach I’ll bring to the U.S. Senate.”
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on Monday, she said she would work to earn the DFL endorsement, but will run in the primary if necessary. Smith hasn’t said if she will back a candidate before the DFL Party convention next spring.
López Franzen enters the race for a prized open seat in the U.S. Senate almost a month after Smith announced that she wouldn’t seek reelection.
Just hours after Smith’s Feb. 13 announcement, Flanagan took to social media to say her “intention is to run for U.S. Senate and continue to serve the people of this state.” A week later, Flanagan officially launched her campaign.
Flanagan and López Franzen are the only two Democrats so far who have officially launched their campaigns. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he has ruled out a run for the Senate seat.
Republicans Royce White and Adam Schwarze have also officially entered the race, and several others are reportedly considering bids on the GOP side.
Short stints as U of M’s chief lobbyist, DFL senate leader
Last month, when López Franzen announced she had left her post as the chief lobbyist for the University of Minnesota—just 19 months after she took the job—she hinted that she was readying another run for office.
“With deep pride and gratitude, I share that I’ll be stepping away from my role at the U to prepare for what’s next,” she said in a post on X just one day after Flanagan launched her U.S. Senate bid.
López Franzen was hired in August 2023 as the university’s first-ever “executive director of government and community relations.” The job paid $250,000 annually and gave the university a more direct lobbying connection to Washington, D.C. Her hire came three months after the university selected former DFL congressional candidate Jeff Ettinger to serve as interim president.
While Franzen was elected to three terms in the Minnesota Senate, she was essentially pushed out of her seat in early 2022 when the state’s legislative districts were redrawn for the upcoming election.
Instead of challenging longtime Sen. Ron Latz, also a Democrat, for the newly redrawn Senate District 46 in which they both lived, López Franzen chose not to run again and used her remaining time as DFL Senate minority leader to captain the caucus’s “Flip the Senate” campaign. Following the November 2022 election, Republicans saw their one-seat majority turn into a one-seat Democratic majority.
López Franzen was involved in an August 2021 rollover crash with State Auditor Julie Blaha, who was driving the pair to a fundraising event on their way home from Farmfest. Blaha was not found to have any alcohol in her system after the accident.
However, controversy around the circumstances of that accident arose when Alpha News first reported months later that first responders found an “open,” “cold,” and “pretty full” container of White Claw in the vehicle, according to documents and videos from the accident.
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
