Minnesota’s most expensive race of all time?

REGIONAL- The race to represent northeastern Minnesota’s Third Senate District in the state Legislature beginning next year could well be the most expensive legislative campaign in Minnesota history by the time the dust settles.
Incumbent Sen. Grant Hauschild, of Hermantown, has been the target of more than $1.3 million in attack ads, mostly funded by two innocuously named outside groups, Renew Minnesota, and Advance Minnesota, both of which received the bulk of their money this year from national Republican sources. Both groups have spent a combined $365,000 on advertising to back Hauschild’s opponent, Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich. Smaller amounts spent by other outside groups have put the total amount spent against Hauschild or in support of his opponent at just over $1.7 million.
Washington-based GOPAC contributed just over $6 million of the $8.3 million raised this year by Renew Minnesota, while the group has spent $3.7 million of that on so-called independent expenditures, nearly a quarter of which was spent attacking Sen. Hauschild or supporting Zupancich. That’s according to the latest campaign finance reports issued on Oct. 27.
GOPAC, along with the Washington D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee, have contributed a combined $2.45 million of the $3.6 million raised by Advance Minnesota in 2026.
DFL-aligned groups have expended just over $50,000 in support of Hauschild, while a group calling itself the Political Committee for the Future of the Iron Range has spent just over $75,000 in opposition to Zupancich. That puts total outside spending in the race at more than $1.825 million.
Such expenditures are described as “independent,” and are separate from what candidates raise and spend on their own. By law, independent expenditures cannot be made in consultation with the candidates they are meant to help. While independent expenditures can be spent either to support one candidate or oppose another, they tend to be spent on attack ads, which has certainly been the case in the District 3 contest.
The candidates themselves have also spent on their behalf. Sen. Hauschild, in his last finance report before the election, reported $130,796 in receipts so far in 2026, and $240,280 in campaign expenditures. Zupancich reported total donations so far this year of $75,078, along with $90,198 in campaign expenditures. That puts total spending through late October at more than $2.15 million.
A 2024 state senate contest in District 45 has been reported to be the current holder for campaign spending in a single legislative race in Minnesota, with total spending of just over $2 million.
Assuming more spending in the final days of the campaign, the total expenditures in the contest could well top the charts in Minnesota as the most expensive contest on record.
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, which is undoubtedly the primary reason the race has attracted so much outside money.