Minnesota Candidate Attempts 13,000 Handshakes in 8 Hours

You'd never think preparing for democracy would involve hand-gripper exercises and buckets of sanitizer, but here we are.

Minnesota congressional candidate Matt Little is attempting to break a world record that's stood untouched for nearly a quarter century. On Saturday at the Minnesota State Fair, he'll try to shake more than 13,392 hands in eight hours, beating the mark set by late New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in 2002.

Little, a former state senator now running for Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, has been training for weeks like an athlete preparing for the Olympics. He's been squeezing hand-gripper tools to build strength and even stopped his regular push-ups and pull-ups this week to avoid any muscle injuries.

The math is staggering. To beat Richardson's record, Little needs to average 29 handshakes every single minute for eight straight hours. His current personal best is 1,000 hands shaken during a parade this year, so Saturday will push him into uncharted territory.

But for Little, this isn't just about getting into the record books. He sees handshaking as the foundation of democracy itself. "The Constitution is a written handshake, right?" he told reporters. "In these times, we've got to get back to that."

His strategy is simple but exhausting. He'll start at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party booth, then pivot to the fair's longest lines if attendance slows down. Campaign staffers will roam ahead, letting people know a handshake record attempt is coming their way. They'll track each shake with clickers and film everything for Guinness World Records verification.

The current record has only been held by two people: Richardson and President Theodore Roosevelt, who shook 8,513 hands before Richardson doubled down on his effort. Little wants to bring the record home to Minnesota.

Why This Inspires

There's something beautifully old-fashioned about a politician who believes personal connection still matters. In an era of digital campaigns and social media blasts, Little is literally reaching out to voters one handshake at a time. He's willing to talk to anyone, even people who completely disagree with him, because he believes that's what democracy requires.

Every handshake is unique, Little says, and it's never the same experience twice. Whether he breaks the record or not, 13,000 individual moments of human connection sounds like exactly what politics needs more of.