Republican Wins Special Election in Minnesota Congressional District

Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District held a special election Tuesday night to replace the late U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn.

Hagedorn’s term ends in January, and the congressional race pitted former Republican state Rep. Brad Finstad against Democrat Jeff Ettinger.

“Wednesday morning the Associated Press announced Republican Brad Finstad won the special election,” FOX 9 reported.

ELECTION 2022: Republican Brad Finstad defeats Democrat Jeff Ettinger in special election for Minnesota's 1st Congressional District.#Elections2022

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) August 10, 2022

BREAKING: Republican Brad Finstad defeats Democrat Jeff Ettinger in Minnesota 01 Special Election via @Redistrict pic.twitter.com/sxhYBUZMki

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) August 10, 2022

My best guess: Brad Finstad (R) ends up winning #MN01 (Trump +10) by just 51%-47% or so when the final four counties finish reporting.

That would be remarkably consistent with the June 28 #NE01 special, when Mike Flood (R) won a Trump +11 seat by just 53%-47%.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 10, 2022

FOX 9 added:

Finstad will represent the district until January 2023. This election was held in the “old” First Congressional District. Boundaries for the district were redrawn earlier this year after the 2020 Census.

The Minnesota Secretary of State had warned the results could be delayed. This is because the state is using an alternate results reporting process due to the election happening within the current district boundaries and at the same time as the primary election for the new district boundaries.

“The method for reporting the special election results includes more manual steps. As a result, counties have been instructed to report these results once they have results for all precincts within their county,” Simon’s office said.

Finstad secured the victory 51.1% to 46.9% with 98.8% reporting.

In other news, Ilhan Omar barely survived a stiff challenge in her primary for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

BREAKING: Ilhan Omar survives #MN05 primary, challenger Don Samuels concedes.

Omar will win by ~3,000 votes, far less than the 35,000 she won by in the 2020 primary. https://t.co/cpzgQ7KJf6

— Theo Keith (@TheoKeith) August 10, 2022

Star Tribune reported:

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar narrowly defeated former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels in Tuesday’s Fifth District DFL primary.

“Tonight’s victory is a testament to how much our district believes in the collective values we are fighting for and how much they’re willing to do to help us overcome defeat,” Omar said in a statement.

Omar is seeking a third term to represent the reliably blue Fifth District seat that includes Minneapolis and nearby suburbs.

“We did have the right read on the voters,” said Samuels. “But we just couldn’t pull it off in the length of time we had.”

Hovering over the contentious primary was Omar’s support for last year’s failed Minneapolis ballot question to replace the city’s police department with a new public safety agency after George Floyd’s death, and her unsuccessful effort to oust Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey by endorsing two of his challengers.