U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, projected by CBS News as the winner of Minnesota’s governor’s race, held her first news conference as governor-elect on Wednesday in St. Paul and described plans to audit state government and grow the workforce, the Minnesota Reformer reported^4,1.

CBS News projected that Klobuchar, a Democrat, defeated Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth and will become the state’s first woman governor, succeeding Gov. Tim Walz, who did not seek a third term⁴. She chose Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer as her running mate, CBS News reported⁴.

At the James J. Hill Center, Klobuchar said she would “work my heart out” for Minnesotans whether or not they voted for her, according to the Reformer¹. She announced a 14-person volunteer transition team chaired by Cindy Jesson, a former Department of Human Services commissioner and appellate judge, and said state law provides $162,000 for the transition¹.

Klobuchar said she will appoint an independent “senior leader” to audit every state agency, working with a new inspector general, the legislative auditor and Minnesota Management and Budget, the Reformer reported¹. She also pledged no new tax increases while drafting a two-year budget due in February, even as the Reformer noted spending is rising faster than revenue¹.

CBS News said the campaign was shaped by fraud prosecutions in state social-service programs; it reported that federal prosecutors have estimated losses that could top $9 billion, a figure the outlet attributed in part to Associated Press reporting⁴. Klobuchar said the audit would also identify places to cut spending¹.

She did not say when she will resign her Senate seat, telling reporters the timing would come before or around inauguration, the Reformer reported¹. Star Tribune and KARE 11 also published transition and DFL-control stories; those pages were not fully retrieved here^2,3.