While serving as mayor, he was the Republican nominee in the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election, but lost to former professional wrestler and third-party candidate Jesse Ventura.

After Wellstone died in a plane crash a few weeks before the election, he was replaced on the ballot by former Vice President Walter Mondale.

In one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate, he lost to former comedian Al Franken by 312 votes out of over three million cast (a margin of just over 0.01%).

"Carting a bullhorn around campus, he'd regularly lecture students about the immorality of the Nixon administration and the Vietnam War.

[13] But his role in bringing professional hockey back to Minnesota and his popularity in St. Paul did help fuel a run for governor that year.

Coleman made plans for a second run for governor in 2002, but Karl Rove and George W. Bush persuaded him to challenge incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone in that year's election instead.

"[17] In 2004 Coleman campaigned for the chairmanship of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), but was defeated for the post by Senator Elizabeth Dole in a 28–27 vote.

On April 13, the three-judge panel issued its final ruling, sweeping aside all of Coleman's legal claims and declaring Franken the winner of the race by 312 votes.

[30][31] The panel ruled that Coleman had failed to prove that mistakes or irregularities in the treatment of absentee ballots had changed the election's outcome.

[34] While running for reelection in 2008, Coleman was mentioned in a Texas lawsuit by Paul McKim, CEO of Deep Marine Technology (DMT), against Nasser Kazeminy.

[53] He was considered a front-runner for the position of chair of the Republican National Committee in 2010 in the event that incumbent Michael Steele did not seek reelection.

[56] He stepped down as leader of the Government Relations and Public Affairs practice at Hogan Lovells in January 2020,[57] but remains a senior counsel.

Global Leadership Coalition, a bipartisan committee that promotes international engagement and includes every living former U.S. secretary of state.

In college Coleman was a liberal Democrat and actively involved in the antiwar movement of the early 1970s;[61][62] he was once suspended for leading a sit-in protest.

From Bobby Kennedy to George McGovern to Warren Spannaus to Hubert Humphrey to Walter Mondale—my commitment to the great values of our party has remained solid.In 1996, Coleman chaired Paul Wellstone's Senate reelection campaign.

Coleman supported additional oil exploration in the outer continental shelf, but maintained a campaign promise to oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

[74] On December 11, 2005, Coleman voted to invoke cloture on, thus advancing, a defense appropriations bill that included oil exploration in ANWR.

[95] As a member of the Small Business Committee, Coleman opposed eliminating the Microloan program, supported funding for Small Business Development Centers and the HUBZone program, successfully extended tax relief for Section 179 expensing, and cosponsored an amendment to increase funding for the SBA by $130 million.

An August 2008 MinnPost article summarized his position as: "He believes the prospects are good for a drawdown of U.S. troops, but it must be done based on conditions on the ground as reported by commanders in the field, not according to an 'arbitrary' timetable set for 'political' reasons in Washington.

He sponsored numerous Congressional Resolutions aimed at Iran, including measures condemning its violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other international obligations.

In 2007, he said, "For the sake of our national security, the U.S. must ensure that the sensitive nuclear technology that we share with partner countries does not fall into the hands of the Iranians.

[102] Coleman was a strong supporter of Bush's 2006 and 2007 attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate, one of the few Republicans to do so, as many called it "amnesty for illegal aliens".

The health problems that may occur from this highly addictive drug include short-term memory loss, anxiety, respiratory illness and a risk of lung cancer that far exceeds that of tobacco products.

Coleman told Congress Daily that he would not vote for a bill that cut sugar beet funding but "Karl Rove called me and asked what I wanted.

These Oil-for-Food Program Hearings covered corporations (including Bayoil) and several well-known political figures of various nations (including Vladimir Zhironovsky), but are best remembered for the confrontational appearance of British politician George Galloway, then a Member of Parliament (MP) for the RESPECT The Unity Coalition (Respect).

On June 2, 2006, Coleman responded to criticism that he had insufficiently investigated the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) for sanctions busting, saying that there were legal and cost hurdles.

[131] On February 10, 2006, in a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of which Coleman was a member, during testimony of former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown, Coleman attacked Brown for poor leadership during Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts, saying, "you didn't provide the leadership, even with structural infirmities", "you're not prepared to kind of put a mirror in front of your face and recognize your own inadequacies", and "the record reflects that you didn't get it or you didn't in writing or in some way make commands that would move people to do what has to be done until way after it should have been done.

"[135] Brown had recently said that he notified the Department of Homeland Security and the White House of the tremendous scale of Katrina flooding earlier than had been previously reported.

Over the years, Coleman has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from people connected with Carlson Companies.

[64] In 2016, Jacob Coleman announced his candidacy for an open Minnesota Senate seat held by Julianne Ortman, but did not win the Republican endorsement.