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Primary results are in

Rep. Ilhan Omar defeated Don Samuels in a narrow race, and Walz and Jensen both won the DFL and GOP governor primaries.
Rep.+Ilhan+Omar+%28DFL%29%2C+her+family%2C+supporters+and+even+her+dog+met+with+media+Tuesday+night+outside+of+the+Dinkytown+Target+prior+to+the+election+results.+
Image by Maia Irvin
Rep. Ilhan Omar (DFL), her family, supporters and even her dog met with media Tuesday night outside of the Dinkytown Target prior to the election results.

This story will be updated throughout the night as votes come in. 

Minnesota Primary results trickled in throughout Tuesday evening, with some elections already being called while others still wait on results.

Fifth Congressional District

Rep. Ilhan Omar narrowly defeated former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels for 5th Congressional District representative. Omar received about 50% of the votes and Samuels received about 48%. Omar has been the district’s representative since 2019. 

"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 Tuesday night after her win. "This win is for them and everyone who still believes that hate, division and regression will not be the legacy of the Fifth."

Omar said at a media event in Dinkytown Tuesday night that she and her team are “excited” and thanked her supporters and constituents who voted for her. 

“We’re honored and humbled that they come out and put their trust in us and that they continue to defend our progressive values,” Omar said. 

At an election party held by Samuels on Tuesday night, Samuels and his campaign staff said they were feeling optimistic about the outcome of the race. 

“From what we can see we’re doing much, much better than the last challenger did on the individual precinct level,” Joe Randinovich, campaign manager for Samuels, said. 

At an election party Tuesday night, Samuels addressed the crowd to concede his loss, saying he was proud to “have come so close” taking on a “goliath” of a force.

“This was supposed to be unwinnable,” Samuels said. “Much of the challenge we had getting early support was that nobody thought that we could win.” 

Cicely Davis, GOP frontrunner for the Fifth District, won the Republican primary with about 48% of the votes. The runner-up, Royce White, won about 37% of the votes.  

Omar will now run against Davis in the midterm election on Nov. 8. Minnesota’s 5th District has not had a republican representative since the ‘60s. 

Governor and Lieutenant Governor  

In the DFL primary, incumbent Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan ran against Ole Savior and Julia Parker. Walz and Flanagan won with about 96% of the votes. 

Walz sent out a press release after he was declared the DFL nominee. Reproductive freedom, paid family leave, funding for education, voting rights and protections for LGBTQ+ youth are all platforms that Walz will be running on in November’s election.

I couldn't be more proud of the strides we made working through the unprecedented challenges of the past three years. But Minnesotans know better than to let up before the job is done,” Walz wrote in the press release. “As we head into the general election tomorrow, the real work starts.”

Scott Jensen and Matt Birk were the frontrunners for the GOP primary and won with about 89% of the votes. They went up against Joyce Lynn Lacey and Kent Edwards as well as Bob “Again” Carney Jr. and Captain Jack Sparrow. 

Jensen and Birk have made headlines recently about their opposition to abortion rights, especially after Birk’s comments about abortion and women at a National Right to Life conference in Georgia in June

Walz released a statement in June saying abortion will remain legal in Minnesota under his leadership. Voters near the University of Minnesota said on Tuesday that protecting reproductive rights is one of their top issues

Walz and Flanagan will run against Jensen and Birk in the November election. The two pairs will also run against James McCaskel and David Sandbeck from the Legal Marijuana Now Party as well as Steve Patterson and Matt Huff from the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party. 

Secretary of State 

Steven Simon, the incumbent and DFL candidate, won his side of the primary with about 73% of the votes. Simon went up against Steve Carlson for the DFL candidacy. 

In the GOP primary, Kim Crockett won against Erik van Mechelen. Crocket has won about 63% of the votes and will go up against Simon in November. 

Attorney General 

The incumbent for attorney general was Keith Ellison, who won the DFL primary with about 89% of the votes so far. Ellison ran against Bill Dahn. 

Jim Schultz won the GOP primary for attorney general with about 53% of the votes, running against Doug Wardlow and Sharon Anderson.

Ellison and Schultz will be running against each other on the November ballot. 

County Sheriff 

There were three candidates in the nonpartisan Hennepin County sheriff race. David Hutchinson, the county’s sheriff did not run for reelection after announcing a leave of absence in May. Hutchinson crashed his county-owned SUV in December while his blood-alcohol level was 0.13%.

Dawanna Witt won the county sheriff primary with about 57% of the votes. Witt ran against Joseph Banks and Jai Hanson and will run against Joseph Banks, who won about 22% of the votes, again in the November election for the county sheriff seat. 

County Attorney 

There were seven candidates running for the nonpartisan Hennepin County Attorney race. Mary Moriarty won the race with about 36% of the votes. Moriarty will go up against Martha Holton Dimick, who won about 18% of the votes, again in the November election. 

Special election in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District 

Along with the primary election, Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Rochester and other cities in southern Minnesota, had a special election for the district’s U.S. representative. The district’s previous representative, Jim Hagedorn (GOP), died in February after battling kidney cancer. 

Brad Finstad won the special election with about 51% of the vote. Finstad went up against Jeff Ettinger (DFL), Richard Reisdorf (Legalize Marijuana Now) and Haroun McClellan (Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis) and will be the district’s U.S. representative for the next five months. 

Ettinger won the district’s DFL primary with about 64% of the vote. He will run against Finstad in the November election to be the district’s representative. Finstad narrowly won the district’s GOP primary with about 38% of the votes, winning against.

Ettinger and Finstad will also run against Richard B. Residorf from the Legalize Marijuana Now Party and Brian Abrahamson from the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party in November.

 

Bella Carpentier, Maia Irvin, Olivia Stevens and Hanna van den Einde contributed to this report. 

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