Klobuchar, U.S. House incumbents win reelection in Minnesota

WASHINGTON – Minnesota’s congressional incumbents appeared to be on their way to reelection Tuesday night, but it is not yet clear who will be in the minority or the majority in the next Congress.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeated GOP challenger Royce White, a former NBA player turned right-wing podcaster. But her electoral victory came as her party lost control of the U.S. Senate.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, the most vulnerable of the state’s federal lawmakers, defeated GOP rival Joe Teirab, a former Marine and federal prosecutor.

Craig based her campaign on her support for abortion rights. She also distanced herself from the Biden administration on several issues, including immigration, and made visits to the U.S.-Mexico border to underscore her views.

Craig’s efforts to keep her swing 2nd District seat were boosted by President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.

Teirab, meanwhile, tried to tie Craig to the Biden administration and ran on the national GOP talking points – blaming Democrats for inflation and a rise in immigration and crime.

Teirab’s bid was promoted by Rep. Tom Emmer, R-7th District, who is the former head of the National Republican Congressional Committee and serves as House Majority Whip, and by other House GOP leaders.

But he was not endorsed by 2nd District Republicans, who favored another GOP candidate, Tayler Rahm, a more conservative choice. Emmer persuaded Rahm to drop out of the race and take a volunteer job on the  Trump campaign in the state, instead. The intra-party feud hurt Teirab.  

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach turned back a challenge from AJ Peters, who had said he would have been pleased to win 40% of the vote against his GOP rival. When the Associated Press called the race, Fischbach was leading Peters, 68% to 32%.

And the AP also said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5th District, defeated Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, a journalist and Iraqi immigrant.

Like all of Omar’s reelection bids, the race attracted national attention and millions of dollars from out-of-state because of the lawmaker’s high profile as a progressive “Squad” member.  

State Sen. Kelly Morrison, who competed for retiring Rep. Dean Phillips’ 3rd District seat, defeated Republican Tad Jude, a former federal judge who has served in both the state House and Senate.

In the southern 1st District, Republican Rep. Brad Finstad also defeated his  rival, Democrat Rachel Bowman, and Rep. Pete Stauber, R-7th District, turned back a second challenge from former state Rep. Jen Schultz.

There were no returns available for the 4th District seat held by Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, the longest-serving member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, who was challenged by Republican May Lor Xiong.

But the AP called the 6th District race for Emmer, who had faced Democrat Jeanne Hendricks for a second time.

As ballots were counted across the nation, it was still unclear if control of the House would change hands, giving Minnesota’s Democratic lawmakers greater clout and diminishing the influence of GOP lawmakers who have benefitted from Republican control of that chamber for two years.

Democrats were able to hold several vulnerable seats, and flipped others in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and elsewhere on Tuesday night, bolstering their chances.

Ana Radelat

Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.

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