The 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 1938. Republican Party of Minnesota candidate Harold Stassen defeated Farmer–Labor Party incumbent Elmer Benson. Martin A. Nelson and George E. Leach unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination, while Hjalmar Petersen unsuccessfully ran for the Farmer-Labor nomination.
Results.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing