Humphrey led the Office of Older Americans as the assistant director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

[2] By 1998, he was again encouraged to run for higher office, and entered the DFL gubernatorial primary, winning handily in a crowded field[3] (which included another scion of an eminent Minnesota political family, Ted Mondale).

In the general election, both Humphrey and Republican candidate Norm Coleman lost to the third-party candidacy of Jesse Ventura in a tumultuous race.

Humphrey was an enthusiastic successor of his father's New Deal-inspired political philosophy, and throughout his career he remained devoted to traditional progressive ideals as well as their more modern manifestations: "If you think that being too liberal means raising the minimum wage, advocating health care for everyone, protecting the environment, taking on the tobacco industry, enacting campaign finance reform, and putting more cops on the streets, then guess what?

[10] In October 2011, Humphrey was appointed the assistant director of the Office of Older Americans at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.