Republican delegates decide Saturday who will lead the state party

More than 300 Republican party activists will decide Saturday whether Chair David Hann or one of three other candidates will lead the party into 2026.

Whatever the state central committee decides, Hann says this will likely be his last run for chair and that he’s ready to pass the torch to a new generation of leadership.

“I’m at a point where, if we’re successful in 2026 in accomplishing the goals that we set out for ourselves in 2021, that would be a good point to look at stepping away and allowing others to take on the job,” he said in an interview.

Hann was elected chair that year after the party was rocked by a major donor being charged with sex trafficking and former Chair Jennifer Carnahan resigned under pressure to step down.

Hann has spent the last three years working to get the once-embattled state party out of debt. Under his leadership, Republicans were able to break Democrats’ trifecta at the state Capitol this year.

Though he’s favored to win as the incumbent, Minnesota Republicans say the race could be a toss-up, especially because so many candidates are running. The three challengers are Army veteran Bret Bussman, former RNC committeeman and Wayzata City Council Member Alex Plechash and former gubernatorial candidate Mike Murphy.

“A tie is not a victory, and suing your way into office is also not a victory,” Murphy said in an interview, referring to the split 67-67 House unless Republicans’ challenge of the results in the District 54A race in Shakopee is successful.

Murphy said he thought there was too much intra-party fighting and not enough focus on the legislative battleground races this election. If elected chair, Murphy wants to implement a party board to hear grievances openly and work toward resolutions, rather than letting grudges fester. Internal party issues tend to become public anyway, he said.

Plechash declined to speak for this story and Bussman could not be reached for comment.

There’s also a tight race for deputy chair. Hann’s deputy chair, Donna Bergstrom, 61, a former candidate for lieutenant governor, has served in the role since 2021. Kip Christianson, 34, who most recently served as deputy state director in Minnesota for President-elect Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is also running. Hann is backing Christianson over Bergstrom in the race.

Hann’s relationship with the state’s conservative grassroots base and decision to back Christianson has frustrated some Republicans heading into Saturday’s race.

Bergstrom says she was blindsided by Hann’s decision, and has since received an overwhelming show of support and encouragement to run for chair herself, a move she ultimately decided against.

“That disorder opened up the door to a different element in the campaign,” she said of Hann’s decision to back Christianson. “So many people had said they wouldn’t run against David, just out of their loyalty. Well, now that was kind of all off the table.”

But Hann, 72, argues backing Christianson was a necessary move to usher in a younger, new generation of leadership and members in the party. If elected, Christianson would be one of the youngest people to hold the deputy chair role.

“I’ve supported [Bergstrom], and I still do. I think she’s done a great job,” Hann said. “To me, it was a decision to at least make it clear that, as a party, we need to embrace some change, and we need to embrace the newer, younger demographics that are a part of our party organization.”

Fresh off the Trump campaign, Christianson wants to bring the field organizing experience he gained on the job into the deputy chair role to ensure Republicans are competitive heading into 2026 and beyond.

“The party is in a new world and David and I both see that that requires new leadership to bring that into the future with those with this balanced approach of continuity and change,” said Christianson, who also had been mulling a bid for chair himself before he decided to run for the deputy post.

In announcing his candidacy, Christianson came clean to supporters about his past, telling them he was arrested for a DUI nearly a decade ago.

“I made a mistake, I learned from it. It won’t happen again,” he said in a video, telling supporters he’s now sober. He also told them he was behind helping Kevin Shores run as a Grassroots Legalize Cannabis Party candidate in the Seventh Congressional District in 2020.

Also in the running for deputy chair is Fred Hage, a local party leader in Cass County. The central committee meets Saturday at noon in Minnetonka.