Primary elections: Reps. Ilhan Omar, Michelle Fischbach survive primary challenges
Royce White will take on Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November
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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar survived a DFL primary rematch Tuesday from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels. Republican U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach prevailed in a western Minnesota primary over challenger Steve Boyd.
Those races, along with contests to shape the U.S. Senate ballot, were decided by voters in a somewhat sleepy August primary.
In unofficial results, Omar won by about 13 percentage points, a much more comfortable margin than her contest two years ago with Samuels.
At a campaign party in Minneapolis, Omar’s supporters cheered and hugged when the news was announced. Omar began on a joyous note in her remarks but quickly turned to her opponent.
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"This campaign has been one of the ugliest, most disgusting campaigns against me that I have ever witnessed," Omar said. "I hope they reflect in the shameful way they decided to divide our district and the incredible people we are grateful to represent."
Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi in the November contest to represent the 5th Congressional District.
Former professional basketball player Royce White — the endorsed Republican candidate — beat Joe Fraser to move on to the general election contest against U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The primary set the stage for a fall campaign that will decide who fills a U.S. Senate seat, eight U.S. House spots, all 134 Minnesota House seats and a winner-take-all contest for the state Senate majority.
Voters cast ballots throughout the day — and ahead of Tuesday by early voting.
“Oh my goodness, I always vote. I’m new in the neighborhood and this is a new polling place so I wanted to make sure I had a dry run before November,” voter Martha Postlethwaite said outside of a polling place in St. Paul on Tuesday.
What’s on the ballot
U.S. Senate
Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar is seeking a rare fourth term, something that hasn’t happened in modern times in Minnesota. She topped four candidates running low-key campaigns: Steve Carlson, Ahmad Hassan, George Kalberer and Ole Savior. Klobuchar racked up more than 90 percent of the vote
Republicans chose Royce White over seven other candidates to advance to a fall campaign against Klobuchar. White had about 38 percent to Fraser’s 29 percent with most of the votes tallied.
Fraser is a retired Naval officer who continued his campaign despite falling short at the May party convention.
White said he is honored to have the party backing.
“I am committed to growing the base, bringing disenfranchised democrats into the tent, and unifying all conservatives in Minnesota,” he said.
U.S. House
Six of eight sitting U.S. House members had candidates file against them from within the party. (Rep. Betty McCollum faced no opposition from a fellow Democrat and Rep. Dean Phillips is stepping away and leaving an open seat.)
But only two congressional members from Minnesota were pushed hard in primaries.
Omar’s rematch with Samuels in the 5th District primary grew bitter at times, with each questioning the ethics of the other. Omar had the DFL endorsement in her bid for a fourth term and emerged victorious.
In western Minnesota, Fischbach won her primary race against businessman Steve Boyd. Neither won the Republican endorsement at the district convention.
Omar and the Fischbach will be favored in the general election given the partisan voting patterns in each district.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night for Joe Teirab in the Republican primary race in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. Teirab faced Republican-endorsed candidate Tayler Rahm in that race, but Rahm stepped down earlier this summer to work for former President Donald Trump’s campaign in Minnesota.
Teirab will face off against U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat, in November. She won her own primary Tuesday night. Rep. Tom Emmer, a Republican representing central Minnesota, also staved off a GOP primary challenger in the 6th District. Jeanne Hendricks, a Democrat, advanced in the 6th District and will face Emmer in November.
And in southern Minnesota, Rep. Brad Finstad beat two Republican challengers to move forward to the general election. Democrat Rachel Bohman is his November opponent.
In northeastern Minnesota, there will be a rematch from 2022 this fall between U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican, and DFL candidate Jen Schultz. Both advanced in primaries Tuesday.
Minnesota Senate
One state Senate seat is on November’s ballot due to the resignation of DFL Sen. Kelly Morrison, who resigned to seek the U.S. House seat Phillips has occupied.
Former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart prevailed in a three-way DFL race. Republican Kathleen Fowke had no opposition for the Republican nod.
The Senate district in the Lake Minnetonka area will determine which party has the majority in January because the chamber is split 33-33 between Republicans and Democrats.
Minnesota House
There were 22 primaries to determine fall candidates for the Minnesota House, where Democrats currently hold the majority.
Six GOP incumbents had primary challengers and one DFL incumbent did. According to unofficial results, the incumbents won in six of the races.
The lone exception was Republican Rep. Brian Johnson of Cambridge. His bid for a seventh term was derailed by James “Jimmy” Gordon, a businessman and Isanti mayor who notched about two-thirds of the vote.
Voters motivated by races for Congress
The race for a U.S. Senate seat drew many voters eager to support Klobuchar or one of her competitors.
Paul Chmelik of St. Paul said he voted for Klobuchar and McCollum.
“Both my wife and I are former educators so this is important for us that they’re voting in a way that would strengthen education in the state and in the country,” Chmelik said.
Peggy James of Minnetonka said she had a hard time picking a Republican to challenge Klobuchar but landed on Fraser.
“So many people that I know now don’t really feel safe anymore,” James said. “I think our borders should be closed. I do believe in immigration — my mom and dad both immigrated here — but I do feel we need structure to it.”
Violet Ackerman, a Republican from Shakopee, said her reason for voting for Fraser is simple: “it’s time for little change.”
The race for Omar’s seat also drew voters.
Linda Zespy from the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis said she likes Omar in part because she is a refugee.
“She’s a voice on the edge and I think that voice on the edge is actually a valuable, needed voice in the House,” Zespy said. “The voice of someone who has been a refugee represents us well. We have so many people coming over the border and I feel like there is a lack of voice of what that experience is like.”
Mary Mcaleer in Linden Hills said she supports Omar because of her stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
“She has been very outspoken and I don’t want my tax money funding a genocide so I support her staying in her position,” Mcaleer said.
However, Jamieson Fish in Minneapolis said he voted for Klobuchar but not for Omar, instead supporting Samuels.
“I just think a more moderate position is good on both sides,” he said. “More commonsense, practical, compromising solutions versus ideology-based politics.”
In the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis, voter Nate Born said he supports Omar precisely because she is not moderate.
“I think there’s room for moderates, but moderates should be in moderate districts and we need to have a progressive voice where we can to help balance out Congress,” Born said.
Walz, presidential candidates drive voters despite not being on primary ballot
Several voters said they were driven to vote at least partially in response to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz being named the running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, the current vice president.
In Mankato, where Walz called home for years as a former high school teacher at Mankato West High School and was voted into Congress, voter Kate Baumann said she is not a fan of Walz.
“I don’t know if this offends anybody, but I don’t like the things that he’s primarily done with our state. So for me to see that he might be the vice president, if they win, is kind of unnerving for me.”
Fish, the Minneapolis voter against Omar, said he’s been displeased with criticism of Walz, calling it “dirty politics.”
“Attacking someone’s military record — I think that’s really unbecoming.”
Mankato voter Jacob Briggs said he was a student at Mankato West when Walz taught there.
“It makes me sad that he was never my teacher, because I think I like him even more now than before,” Briggs said. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, they are definitely going to win Minnesota. They’re going to have my vote.”
In Moorhead, Republican voter Roy Knapp focused on national politics. He said he used to be independent but has voted Republican in the past two elections.
“We’re gonna have to see how this election turns out but if it don’t go the way I want it to, I won’t be living in Minnesota much longer. My taxes are gonna go sky high and we’re retired, elderly, so we can’t afford much more in taxes,” Knapp said.
In Shakopee, 93-year-old Republican voter Earl Wiesner said he was still debating whether to vote in the presidential election in November at all.
“After Trump’s episode after the last election I said I would never vote for the man, and even though I am a Republican I cannot vote for him. And Harris, I don’t like the policies that they’re putting forth, so I’m kind of caught in a dilemma here,” Wiesner said.
Hennepin County mail-in votes rival 2022 total
“Turnout in primaries is famously hard to predict,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said.
“That’s because in primary elections, as opposed to a general election, it really depends so, so much on what is on the ballot in that particular place. If there’s a contest that’s perceived as really close, then there’s high turnout. If there are contests that are not perceived as really close, that turnout tends to be lower.”
The number of mail-in ballots submitted in Hennepin County this primary rivals the number submitted in 2022, Hennepin County elections director Ginny Gelms said on Tuesday. The county received about 31,000 absentee ballots through Monday and expects to receive more on Tuesday; Hennepin County voters cast 32,000 mail-in ballots in 2022.
About 13,000 people voted early in Minneapolis as of Monday evening, according to Katie Smith, the Minneapolis assistant city clerk overseeing elections and voter services. That’s 180 percent more than in 2016 but less than in 2020, when mail-in voting surged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
Thousands of poll workers are under new protections
In early 2023, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon urged lawmakers to codify protections for the thousands of people serving as election judges, which the Legislature did in both 2023 and 2024.
It is now illegal to intimidate elections workers, interfere with election administration, bar a worker from getting to the polls, tamper with voting equipment and ballot boxes, access the statewide voter registration system without authorization, and disseminate an election official’s personal information. That includes a phone number, personal email address, home ownership information and names and pictures of minor children, also known as doxxing.
“I’m really happy that we've had these updated laws go into effect in Minnesota that help protect folks who are really just being the guardians of democracy,” Gelms told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Tuesday morning.
MPR News reporters Amy Felegy, Dana Ferguson, Ellie Roth, Estelle Timar-Wilcox, Hannah Yang and Peter Cox contributed to this story.