State Rep. Kurt Bills is the Minnesota Republican Party's pick to face U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the November election. The first-term Republican nabbed the endorsement to challenge the Democratic incumbent after two ballots at the Minnesota GOP Convention Friday in St. Cloud.

On Friday, Republicans are expected to endorse a candidate to run against DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Three are vying for the spot: Dan Severson, Pete Hegseth and Rep. Kurt Bills. MPR News this week examined what each of the candidates proposes to do about the nation's budget deficit.

Anthony Hernandez says he will challenge Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum rather than Sen. Klobuchar. Joe Arwood says the time and money involved in a campaign were more than he could take on. That still leaves State Rep. Dan Severson and Army Capt. Pete Hegseth as Republicans running against Klobuchar.

Allen Quist and Mike Parry are both seeking the GOP endorsement to run against Rep. Walz in November. Republicans will gather for their 1st District Convention in Mankato Saturday. Walz is seeking his fourth term in Washington.

After 23 rounds of voting, GOP delegates adjourned the 1st Congressional District endorsing convention without agreeing on a candidate to face U.S. Rep. Tim Walz this fall. Both Allen Quist and Mike Parry are seeking the GOP endorsement, but neither received the 60 percent of delegates needed for the endorsement. Republicans plan to try again at a second convention in the next few weeks.

Bills is a first-term representative from Rosemount, where he teaches high school economics. He says he wants to bring Economics 101 to Washington. He joins two other Republicans hoping to be the party's challenger to U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.

At an MPR-hosted debate Sunday, Republican challenger Kurt Bills had pointed words for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who holds a big lead in polls. "When you're sitting here as a Democrat in the United States Senate from Minnesata, and you're so well liked and you have these numbers, why are you not leading?" Bills asked Klobuchar.

Neither Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., or her Republican challenger Kurt Bills brought up new issues in the last debate of Minnesota's U.S. Senate race Sunday night at St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theater -- the fourth and final debate between the two before Election Day.