Key Congressional Races Define Minnesota Primary

As Minnesota voters head to the polls on Aug. 9, three pivotal U.S. House seats are among the races on the ballot, including the 1st Congressional District, which has a special election and a primary.

Mostly situated in rural southern Minnesota, the 1st District has the special election to fill the remainder of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s term.

Hagedorn was first elected in 2019. He died after a long battle with kidney cancer, his wife, Jennifer Carnahan, announced on Feb. 18.

Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat and a former 1st Congressional District representative, announced details for the special election within the three-day window of Hagedorn’s death, as established by Minnesota law.

President Donald Trump and GOP congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn appear at a Make America Great Again rally in Rochester, Minn., on Oct. 4, 2018. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Hagedorn won by less than one percentage point in 2018 before prevailing by 3 percentage points in 2020.

Candidates for the special election are Republican Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeff Ettinger.

If Finstad prevails, that will narrow the Democrats’ already slim majority in the U.S. House.

Finstad is a former state representative. Ettinger is the former CEO of Hormel Foods Corp. Each candidate advanced in their respective special election primaries in May.

They are also running in the second election for a full two-year term in November. In those races, they face challengers.

Finstad is opposed by state Rep. Jeremy Munson in the Republican primary. Finstad defeated Munson in the May special election primary.

George Kalberer and James Rainwater are also on the ballot with Ettinger in the Democratic primary.

On Aug. 8, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said that results for the special election might take longer to be released because it is a special election held

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