Kendall Qualls formally announced his run for governor January 9, joining 5 other Republican candidates looking to defeat DFL Gov. Tim Walz.

The Army veteran and former health care executive ran as a political newcomer for our MN Third Congressional District in 2020 and then established non-profit TakeCharge MN.

Qualls told Fox & Friends that he was filing as a candidate on the Republican ticket "because in our state we were ground zero — all of the rioting, looting and defunding the police initiatives all started and spread across the country…. And even now, two years later, we're suffering from record crime across our state.... And in the center of it all is our governor, Tim Walz,  allowing that to happen, his weak leadership." To watch the brief video CLICK HERE

Here is the current list of Republican candidates that have announced their run for governor and candidate websites, in alphabetical order:

Sen. Michelle Benson  Michelle4MN.com
Sen. Paul Gazelka  gazelkaforgovernor.com 
Dr. Scott Jensen  drscottjensen.com 
Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy MikeMurphyforMN.com 
Kendall Qualls  KQforMN.com
Dr. Neil Shah  electneil.com 

In December, businessman Mike Marti dropped out of the governor's race.

All currently-active Republican candidates will be listed for the Governor straw poll at the February 1 Caucuses.

In May, the Republican Party State Convention will endorse one candidate to take on Walz.