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Capitol View®
Catharine Richert

Voting at the MN GOP convention begins again

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After a few hours of sleep, delegates have gathered again at the Rochester Mayo Civic Center, undecided on who will be their endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate.

On the last ballot, St. Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg was leading with 54 percent of the vote and Sunfish Lake businessman Mike McFadden had 44 percent of the vote.

Delegates will vote for the 8th time this morning. They have to finish the Senate endorsement before  they kick off what promises to be another intense endorsement battle for governor between Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, state Sen. Dave Thompson, former state Rep. Marty Seifert, and Rob Farnsworth.

Scott Honour and Rep. Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, are not seeking the endorsement for governor and will compete in the August primary.

Bachmann endorsement
A flier circulated by GOP U.S. Senate hopeful Mike McFadden. Tom Scheck/MPR News

In a speech to delegates on Saturday morning, Dahlberg sought to distinguish himself from McFadden, who has said he will run in the primary no matter what happens at the convention.

"You make the decision, I honor you," Dahlberg told delegates.

Meanwhile, McFadden was passing out a flier to delegates that touted a last-minute endorsement from retiring 6th Congressional District Rep. Michele Bachmann, which will appeal to the most conservative delegates in Rochester.

"I think we can all agree that Senator Franken must go," the flier said quoting Bachmann. "It is my belief that Mike McFadden is the candidate that can best bring the fight to Senator Franken."