Independent candidate Newcome enters governor race

A third-party candidate has entered Minnesota’s race for governor with a big financial splash and a belief that he can recapture the sentiment that caused voters to break from the major parties in 1998.

Mike Newcome filed paperwork late last week to begin building his campaign as a Forward Independence Party candidate. He said Monday that he has already put $100,000 of his own money into the effort and would likely make more sizable infusions next year.

Newcome, 56, of Lake Elmo, said he’s convinced that every 25 to 30 years there’s a bit of a “tectonic shift” when people start to want a bigger change than DFL and Republican nominees offer.

“People say, ‘Oh, goodness, things aren't right. I'm willing to’ — I hate to say — ‘take a chance,’” he said. “I don't think people are actually taking a chance on me, but they're taking a chance stepping outside where they would normally run to and vote for.”

DFL Gov. Tim Walz is seeking a third term next year, and a bevy of Republicans have lined up to challenge him.

Minnesota last elected a third-party governor when Jesse Ventura rode the Reform Party nomination to an upset win in 1998. The party, which later became the Independence Party, had automatic ballot access back then and for several more cycles, but it’s now a minor party; so a candidate would need to file by petition to reach the 2026 ballot. That means getting 2,000 signatures within a specific time window next spring.

Newcome, who spent his career in private equity and then growing his own business, has not been involved in politics recently. But he is very familiar with it.

His father, Tom Newcome, was a Republican state representative from 1965 to 1974. Both his parents served on the Metropolitan Council. Newcome said he worked on the campaigns of former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson and former U.S. Sens. Dave Durenberger and Rudy Boschwitz.

“We are in such a polarized atmosphere in the country and in the state of Minnesota,” he said. “If you're a native Minnesotan like I am, it just doesn't feel like Minnesota politics anymore. Having grown up in a very politically active family, we were always extremely cordial with anybody who identified with any other party. It did not matter.”

Newcome, a White Bear Lake native, said his platform is focused on getting away from party politics. He wants stronger educational outcomes, more accountability and fraud prevention in the state government, and increased public safety to cut down on crime in the state.

He describes his political background as center-right, adding, “I always used to say I’m fiscally conservative, and I’m socially liberal.”

According to Federal Election Commission records, Newcome’s last financial contribution as an individual was in 2014 to independent Kansas U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman, who Newcome also worked with.