MINNEAPOLIS — One of Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar’s first jobs in St. Paul in January will be to name her replacement to the U.S. Senate.

The appointed senator will serve until a new special election is called, which according to state law would be November 2027. That senator would then complete Klobuchar’s term, which is up in 2031.

Klobuchar, at her first news conference as governor-elect on Wednesday, said she’d be “very careful” in making the decision.

“Stay tuned,” Klobuchar said. “I will do right by the state of Minnesota with that person.”

The names of several well-known DFL politicians continue to circulate in Minnesota political circles: Secretary of State Steve Simon, U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison, and outgoing U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.

There are dark horses, too.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reached out to Morrison, Simon and Craig. None responded. But each presents a case for the new governor, say analysts and insiders.

They share one thing in common: a politically moderate, vetted and serious legislator. The appointee will join a Democratic majority on Capitol Hill performing a significant check on the executive branch under President Donald Trump during the final two years of his second term.

The 57-year-old OB-GYN from Deephaven was elected to a second term in Congress on Tuesday, winning her district spanning the western suburbs by nearly 30 points. In D.C., she serves on committees for Small Business and Veteran’s Affairs.

Morrison began her term in 2025 as a relatively unknown figure in Washington, but she gained attention during Operation Metro Surge, visiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in Minnesota and Texas and calling out the lack of medical care for detainees.

Morrison is viewed by some DFL insiders as a political operator in the mold of Klobuchar — fiscally moderate and socially progressive.

The 56-year-old former state lawmaker won re-election to a fourth term as the state’s elections custodian, navigating the Trump administration’s pressure on blue state officials, including in Minnesota, to turn over voter rolls to federal agents.

Simon, a Hopkins resident, is popular inside the DFL and viewed as a stable hand. His unflappability could be an asset.

“With all the attacks on elections, it’d be good to have him in Congress,” State Auditor Julie Blaha said. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Steve [Simon].”

The 54-year-old congresswoman held a district through multiple election cycles, even as it once voted for President Trump. She rose to be top-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.

Earlier this year, Craig failed to win her bid for the DFL nomination for Senate, losing to Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who won Minnesota’s other U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday.

Craig’s pragmatic style and fluency with both suburban and rural communities also resembles Klobuchar’s statewide-appeal. But some in the DFL disapproved of her sharp-elbowed campaign, in which she hammered Flanagan over fraud.

The Democrats have a deep bench in Minnesota, and other names on the long-list are Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, as well as someone who is already in Washington.

Larry Jacobs, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, floated another name in an interview on Wednesday evening: retiring U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

“I don’t think she will choose someone who will be running for the office [later in 2027],” Jacobs said. “Tina [Smith] knows the job.”

In response, a spokesperson for Smith texted, “Senator Smith is retiring from the Senate in January.”

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