Hauschild-Zupancich rematch draws nearly $1.3 million

REGIONAL- A race for a single state Senate seat in northeastern Minnesota has become a nearly $1.3 million political battle, fueled largely by outside groups pouring money into efforts to defeat DFL incumbent Grant Hauschild and elect Republican Andrea Zupancich.
Hauschild’s campaign raised $250,567 during 2025 and through July 20 of this year, more than six times the $40,254 raised by Zupancich over the same period. If the race depended solely on money raised by the two campaigns, Hauschild would hold an overwhelming financial advantage.
It does not.
Campaign finance filings show Republican-aligned political groups have reported spending more than $925,000 attacking Hauschild or supporting Zupancich. Most of that comes from two independent expenditure groups, Advance Minnesota and Renew Minnesota, which have hired political advertising and voter-contact firms from Utah and California to help influence the northeastern Minnesota race.
Advance has reported $480,714 in expenditures opposing Hauschild. Renew has spent another $309,582 against him and $85,190 supporting Zupancich.
By comparison, recent filings show about $78,000 in spending by the Senate DFL Caucus on Hauschild’s behalf.
The outside spending has done more than offset Hauschild’s advantage in candidate fundraising. It has tilted the overall financial balance of the race toward Zupancich, whose own campaign has raised far less than Hauschild’s.
A costly rematch
The attention being paid to Senate District 3 reflects both the closeness of the candidates’ first contest and the stakes for control of the Legislature.
Hauschild defeated Zupancich by just 703 votes in 2022. He is now the only DFL senator representing northeastern Minnesota outside Duluth, in a region that has shifted steadily toward Republicans in recent elections.
Democrats currently control the Senate by a single seat, while the House is evenly divided between the two parties. A Zupancich victory would give Republicans one of their clearest opportunities to change control of the Senate.
The nearly $1.3 million committed to the race is certain to grow. The latest candidate fundraising reports cover only activity through July 20, while much of the outside spending occurred during August and September.

National political operation
The campaign finance filings also provide a look at where the outside money is going.
Advance and Renew have directed most of their advertising spending through Arena LLC, a Salt Lake City firm that describes itself as a Republican political advertising and consulting company.
Arena says it provides political strategy, direct mail, digital advertising, streaming television, voter targeting, and ad placement for Republican candidates and political organizations across the country.
Advance reported paying Arena $464,048 for its Senate District 3 effort. The expenditures included two rounds of broadcast, cable, radio, digital video, and digital audio advertising directed against Hauschild.
Among the largest individual expenditures were $145,628 for radio placement, $74,938 for digital video, and $74,160 for broadcast advertising. Advance also paid Arena for video and radio production and printed canvassing materials.
Renew reported $305,927 in Arena expenditures opposing Hauschild and another $70,627 supporting Zupancich. Those expenses included advertising production and placement, Facebook advertising, and mailers.
Both groups also hired In Field Strategies, a California-based national political canvassing firm.
Advance reported paying the company $16,667 for canvassing against Hauschild. Renew reported another $12,500 for canvassing in support of Zupancich.
In Field Strategies says it specializes in door-to-door canvassing, voter mobilization, phone banks, texting, voter registration, and other direct-contact programs for political campaigns, parties, PACs, and other organizations.
The company’s California address does not mean its canvassers working in Senate District 3 necessarily came from California. It does show, however, that organizations outside Minnesota are helping plan and carry out voter-contact efforts in the district.
Renew also placed several newspaper advertisements locally, including expenditures of $1,200 with the Ely Echo, $774.80 with the Timberjay, and $1,680 with APG Media of Minnesota.

Other groups join in
Advance and Renew account for most of the independent spending identified in the filings, but they are not alone.
Other groups have reported an additional $50,408 in expenditures affecting the race. Those include $17,600 by Build Minnesota supporting Zupancich, $11,000 by Americans for Prosperity Action-Minnesota supporting her, and $10,408 by the MCCL State Victory Fund opposing Hauschild.
Empower Minnesota reported $9,300 opposing Hauschild, while smaller expenditures were reported by Build Minnesota and Excellence Minnesota.
The Republican Senate Victory Fund has also reported nearly $23,000 supporting Zupancich, according to the Star Tribune, while the newspaper reported additional spending by the state political parties.
The competing expenditures are separate from the Hauschild and Zupancich campaigns. Under state law, independent expenditure groups may advocate for or against candidates, but their spending cannot be coordinated with the candidates or their campaign committees.
For voters in Senate District 3, that distinction means many of the advertisements, mailers, online messages, and canvassing contacts they encounter this fall will have been created and paid for by organizations other than the candidates whose names appear on the ballot.
And with more than a month remaining before Election Day, the meter is still running on this million-dollar race.