Klobuchar grilled by GOP rival on fraud record while running to replace Walz: 'Where were you?'

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA: Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic candidate for governor in Minnesota, is catching heat from her Republican opponent for how she’s handled the state’s big fraud scandal, even though she’s been talking a lot about fighting fraud on the campaign trail.

Turns out, after digging through about a thousand press releases from her Senate office between 2022 and 2025, there’s not one that mentions Minnesota’s social-services fraud crisis directly, including the “Feeding Our Future” scandal. 

Amy Klobuchar's record on fraud in Minnesota

A Fox News Digital review found that Klobuchar's Senate office repeatedly issued press releases addressing other forms of fraud between 2022 and 2025, but a review of 1,000 of her official press-release archive found no release directly addressing or offering solutions to fix Minnesota's social-services fraud scandal or Feeding Our Future.

The $250 million "Feeding Our Future" scandal, which has ballooned into an overall social services scandal that prosecutors say could total over $9 billion, broke in late January of 2022.

In more than 1,000 press releases from Klobuchar’s office from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025, the Feeding our Future scandal was not mentioned in Klobuchar’s releases, nor were the terms "Minnesota fraud," "social services fraud," "Medicaid fraud," "autism fraud," "Housing Stabilization Services," "child nutrition fraud," "DHS fraud," or "nonprofit fraud."

Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House Speaker and Republican candidate for governor, isn’t letting this slide.

She’s quick to call out Klobuchar’s failure to address the issue, especially since Klobuchar’s made such a fuss about fighting fraud since joining the governor’s race.

Demuth says there’s a real disconnect between what Klobuchar’s saying now and how she stayed quiet when the scandal first broke while she was in the Senate.

"As Feeding Our Future was breaking and all of the fraud that was being talked about, the absent voice that I was noticing was Senator Klobuchar," Demuth told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday, August 21. 

Amy Klobuchar's campaign messaging under scrutiny

Since launching her run for governor to replace Gov Tim Walz, who ended his bid for reelection in January, Klobuchar has made fraud a central campaign theme.

Just this month, she released an ad promising that, on her first day in office, she’ll order a state audit to tackle waste, fraud, and abuse. She presents herself as someone who delivers results, not excuses.

Demuth, who took over as Minnesota’s House Speaker in 2025, points to her own track record.

Shortly after stepping into the role, she created a legislative committee focused on fraud prevention and overseeing state agencies. "My question is, where were you for the last 10 years, but absolutely the last eight years?" Demuth said. 

"She could have done press conferences, she could have partnered with Governor Walz. She has called Governor Walz an exceptional governor, 'He's a great governor.' Back when he was running for vice president, she was giving all of his accolades. Where was she to help him where our state was falling apart? I think it's a little bit too late for her to say that this was really a priority," Demuth remarked.