diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/helpers.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/helpers.ts
index 8a174d7fa4a..5231991f08a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/helpers.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/graphite/state/helpers.ts
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ export function handleTargetChanged(state: GraphiteQueryEditorState): void {
     return;
   }
 
-  const oldTarget = state.queryModel.target.target;
+  let oldTarget = state.queryModel.target.target;
   // Interpolate from other queries:
   // Because of mixed data sources the list may contain queries for non-Graphite data sources. To ensure a valid query
   // is used for interpolation we should check required properties are passed though in theory it allows to interpolate
@@ -167,7 +167,11 @@ export function handleTargetChanged(state: GraphiteQueryEditorState): void {
     (state.queries || []).filter((query) => 'target' in query && typeof (query as GraphiteQuery).target === 'string')
   );
 
-  if (state.queryModel.target.target !== oldTarget && !state.paused) {
+  // remove spaces from old and new targets
+  const newTarget = state.queryModel.target.target.replace(/\s+/g, '');
+  oldTarget = oldTarget.replace(/\s+/g, '');
+
+  if (newTarget !== oldTarget && !state.paused) {
     state.refresh();
   }
 }