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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Michele Tafoya, the former NFL sideline reporter who entered Minnesota 's Senate race without the state Republican Party's endorsement, won the GOP primary Tuesday, defeating party-backed candidate Adam Schwarze and Royce White.
Tafoya will now face Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a Democrat, in the general election. Flanagan won her party's nomination after defeating Minnesota Representative Angie Craig in the Democratic primary.
Tafoya's victory came despite the Republican Party of Minnesota's formal endorsement of Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL and Marine. He secured the backing at the state party's convention in Duluth in May, but Tafoya ultimately prevailed at the ballot box.
The result puts Tafoya in a difficult general-election environment for Republicans . Minnesota has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006, while the last Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in the state was Norm Coleman in 2002.
After the race was called, Tafoya told supporters that Minnesota was ready for a change.
"We've had a crisis of leadership here," she said. "This state is ready for change."
Newsweek reached out to Tafoya's campaign for additional comment on Wednesday.
Tafoya was born December 17, 1964, in Manhattan Beach, California, and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She began her broadcasting career at CBS Sports in 1994 as a reporter and host covering college basketball, remaining with the network through the end of 1999.
She joined ABC Sports and ESPN in 2000, working as a sideline reporter for Monday Night Football during the 2004 and 2005 NFL seasons before the broadcast moved to ESPN. She continued in the role beginning in 2006 and also covered the NBA for ABC and ESPN during that period.
In 2011, Tafoya joined NBC's Sunday Night Football, where she remained until 2022. During her time at NBC, she covered four Super Bowls and was part of the network's Olympics coverage.
Tafoya retired from NBC in 2022, with Super Bowl LVI serving as her final broadcast. At the time, she said she wanted to pursue other opportunities.
Tafoya won multiple Sports Emmy Awards during her career. She was also honored by American Women in Radio and Television for her play-by-play work calling WNBA games on Lifetime Television.
After leaving sports broadcasting, Tafoya moved into conservative political commentary and consulting. She has hosted her own podcast and made frequent television appearances discussing politics and culture.
She announced her Senate campaign in January, framing the race as an opportunity to address what she has described as a crisis of leadership in Minnesota. She has also focused on a fraud scandal involving the state's social services programs, which contributed to Governor Tim Walz's decision not to seek reelection.
Tafoya has been married to Mark Vandersall since 2000. The two met in 1993, when Tafoya was working as a host at Minnesota radio station KFAN-AM.
Vandersall graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1995 with a degree in finance, according to his LinkedIn profile. He played college baseball at the university after attending Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minnesota, where he was an All-Conference football player in 1989.
Today, Vandersall works as a private wealth advisor in Edina, Minnesota, with Summit Private Wealth Group, an Ameriprise Financial practice. He holds the Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Consultant designations, according to his Ameriprise advisor profile.
A U.S. News financial advisor listing says Vandersall has been in practice for 20 years, including the last six at Ameriprise Financial Services LLC.
Vandersall has largely stayed out of the public eye during his wife's broadcasting and political careers. He maintains a public account on X, where he has occasionally posted about family life, including a 2016 vacation photo from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tafoya and Vandersall have two children: a son, Tyler, born in 2005, and a daughter, Olivia, whom they adopted in 2009.
Tafoya has spoken publicly about the couple's path to parenthood, including a pregnancy loss before Tyler's birth. She has said she shared her experience so others facing similar struggles would know that "there's always hope."
In a 2016 interview with VICE Sports, Tafoya described her children as her priority.
"What keeps me most busy are my kids," she said. "I hate being away from them, and so when I'm home, I'm trying to get everything done while they're at school so that I can be present when they are home."
Tafoya and Vandersall live in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas
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