Klobuchar taps former Fergus Falls mayor Ben Schierer as running mate

Ben Schierer’s move from Fergus Falls City Hall to Amy Klobuchar’s statewide ticket put Otter Tail County squarely in the middle of Minnesota’s next governor’s race. The announcement came as the Minnesota DFL convention opened in Rochester, and it elevated a former local mayor whose political identity was built far from the Twin Cities.

Schierer served on the Fergus Falls City Council starting in 2004, won the mayor’s office in 2016 and was reelected in 2020. In Fergus Falls, his tenure was tied closely to the city’s riverfront and downtown comeback efforts, the kind of work that shaped daily life along the Otter Tail River and on the blocks where local businesses have fought to stay vibrant.

That record matters because Schierer’s mayoral years were not just ceremonial. Legislative records show a $5.2 million appropriation for Fergus Falls’ Riverfront Corridor Project Phase 2, Part 2, which included land acquisition, a river buffer trail, parking, public amenities and rail crossings. Earlier descriptions of the project also pointed to a splash pad, an expanded riverfront balcony and a pedestrian bridge, all part of a broader push to make the riverfront a destination again.

Klobuchar’s campaign is betting that kind of local governing experience will travel well in greater Minnesota. Schierer worked with West Central Initiative on regional economic development, and his background as a small-business owner gives him another credential that speaks directly to towns and employers outside the metro. He and his wife, Tessa, once operated Union Pizza & Brewing Company and TÖAST in downtown Fergus Falls, putting him in the practical world of payrolls, Main Street foot traffic and the daily pressure of keeping doors open.

The campaign also highlighted Schierer’s broader biography: he graduated from Fergus Falls High School in 1992 and from Metropolitan State University in May 2020. A 2024 profile identified him as both a 2020-21 Bush Fellow and a 2023 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and he and Tessa have five children.

Schierer had been running for Minnesota state auditor before joining Klobuchar’s ticket, a switch that instantly pulled a relatively little-known local official into one of the state’s biggest political stages. It also gave Klobuchar a running mate with roots in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, where Schierer would be the first person elected to statewide office in more than 50 years.

For Fergus Falls and the rest of Otter Tail County, the selection is more than a campaign headline. It places a familiar name, shaped by downtown revival work and rural economic concerns, at the center of a statewide debate over growth, jobs, local control and who gets heard outside the Twin Cities.