Basketball Player Royce White Wins Republican Senate Primary in Minnesota

Royce White (L) greets attendees before a rally in St Cloud, Minnesota on July 27, 2024. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS—Royce White, a former professional basketball player and radio host, won the Republican primary on Aug. 13 for Minnesota’s U.S. Senate election in November against Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

White, who has attracted attention for controversial comments about Judaism and Israel, won the primary with 38.5 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press. He defeated former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Joe Fraser, who secured 29.3 percent of the vote.

“For many years, Republicans have talked about expanding our tent and focusing on the Twin Cities Metro. I am committed to growing the base, bringing disenfranchised Democrats into the tent, and unifying all conservatives in Minnesota,” White wrote on X after winning the primary.

White was the populist favorite in the primary, and his campaign was endorsed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Republican Senate nominee Kari Lake of Arizona, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and InfoWars founder Alex Jones, among others. White was also formally endorsed by the Minnesota Republican Party at its convention in May, where delegates voted by a two-thirds majority in favor of his nomination.

Fraser, by contrast, was supported by more establishment Republican figures, such as former Gov. Tim Pawlenty—the last Republican elected to statewide office in Minnesota in 2006—and former U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman and Rudy Boschwitz. Fraser’s campaign primarily focused on White’s electability.

“I am saddened that our ability to compete in the general election has been thwarted by our party’s embrace of an unelectable candidate,” Fraser wrote in a concession statement on X.

White’s controversial comments include his claim that Jewish identity is focused on the Holocaust “to provide a victimhood cover for their own corrupt practices.” He has also previously criticized Republicans’ support for Israel, writing that Israel is “a country that takes our tax money to be ethno-national.” He added that “Israel has a right to exist but not to be the lynchpin of New World Order.”

In 2022, White ran for Congress in the Republican primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, covering metropolitan Minneapolis, which has been represented by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) since 2018. He lost the primary.

Several Republican voters in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area of Minnesota expressed approval of White’s position on Israel.

“I’m not entirely pro-Israel,” Will Millner, a 19-year-old Republican voter in West St. Paul, told The Epoch Times. “Israel is a lot more well funded and they have an advanced military, so I think that the U.S. should spend more money helping our citizens and whatnot, rather than sending money to foreign aid.”

“I lean toward Royce White because he was talking a lot about things that affect me, like gas prices, groceries, and I really felt that he focused more on those issues personally than the other guy, for Republicans,” Millner noted.

Will Millner, an incoming college student, voted in the Republican Primary at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota, on Aug. 13, 2024. (Arjun Singh/The Epoch Times)

Voters for Fraser, by contrast, spoke of his military experience as an attractive trait. “I feel he’s more experienced. He’s been there and knows what he’s doing,” Deborah Neppel, an elderly Republican voter in downtown Minneapolis, told The Epoch Times.

White’s personal history has attracted controversy for other reasons, such as his participation in the Black Lives Matter movement and protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. It led several national Republican groups to dismiss his candidacy and likelihood of success.

“I don’t think he can win a general election,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told reporters in May.

“White carries the baggage of numerous personal scandals,” wrote the Republican Jewish Coalition in an endorsement message for Fraser. “We refuse to excuse or ignore antisemitism when it arises in our party. That’s why we will never support Royce White for Senate or any other position of public trust,” it added.

“I’m one of the biggest critics of Israeli influence and the Jewish lobby. So much I’m frequently called antisemitic,” White wrote in a December 2023 post on X. “But to say Judaism and Zionism are no different is dumb.”

White defended his past comments in a telephone interview with The Epoch Times shortly before the primary.

“There are black elites in this country, Hispanic elites in this country, [and] white elites in this country. If you can’t say that there are Jewish elites, we’re just not dealing with reality,” White said. “To call me anti-Semitic ... this has become a trope that people use when they can’t say anything else, and it’s a harm to the Jewish people.”

“I love the Jewish people. I’m a Christian. I wholeheartedly believe that the Old Testament and New Testament ... are just equally as important in the Hebrew Bible, and it’s central to my life,” White added.

White has heavily lagged in fundraising and polling against Klobuchar, who is seeking re-election to a fourth term. He has raised only $132,721 for his campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), whereas Klobuchar has raised more than $18.9 million for her principal committee and more than $3.7 million for her political action committee.

Polling indicates that Klobuchar, who won the Democratic primary on Aug. 13 with 94.3 percent of the vote, is ahead of Royce by 22 percentage points in the latest poll of the race.

Klobuchar’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.