Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read August 2022 — Across the state, Minnesotans are headed to the polls today to decide who will be their party’s standard bearer in a number of races.
With early in-person voting having begun on June 24, votes have already been cast for a number of primary races. At the highest level, incumbent Gov. Tim Walz, barring an upset, is poised to once again carry the party standard into the general election for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, despite a primary challenge by frequent campaigner (in a variety of races and parties) Ole Savior.
Walz has a multimillion-dollar campaign advantage over Savior.
On the Republican side, party-endorsed Scott Jensen is fending off two primary challengers: Bob Carney Jr and Joyce Lacey. Carney, who’s campaign theme is “Bob Again,” is running as a Republican in the hopes of right-sizing the party away from Trump. He has made that central to his campaign, going so far as to argue that Trump should stand trial for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters. Lacey is a reporter for KBRF Radio Station in Fergus Falls and the vice president of outreach north for the Navy League of the United States. She has refused soliciting donations, saying that the pandemic caused enough harm to Minnesotans’ finances.
Jensen, with the backing of the Republican party, who is almost assured to advance to the general election, is a medical physician who believes he’s best suited to “heal” Minnesota. Jensen argues that Walz’s COVID-related lockdowns were too severe, treating emergency powers as a political football that caused economic harm to the state. Walz in turn argues that Jensen will work to weaken abortion protections, and touts his own successes on working with a divided legislature and the successes of his first four years in office.
On the Congressional level, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, a member of the controversial “Squad” that includes progressive and often polemical representatives, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Presley, in addition to Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, faces a primary challenge of her own for Minnesota’s Congressional 5th District from former Minneapolis City Councilman and Schoolboard member Don Samuels.
While even Samuels acknowledges the two agree on many points, the key distinction has been public safety. Samuels worked to kill an Omar-backed proposal that would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety and has the support of both Republicans and Democrats. Samuels has said that Omar is too focused on making a point as opposed to getting things done, saying at his campaign announcement, “Our city, our nation, and our world are threatened by devastating economic disparities, the catastrophic effects of climate change, and a sustained attack on democracy here at home and abroad. While Rep. Omar and I share similar views on many issues, I believe this moment calls for a different approach to leadership–one that seeks to build a united coalition able to achieve greater progress for everyone.”
Omar has fended off well-funded challengers from her own party before. In 2020, she handily beat Antone Melton-Meaux by 20 points after being out-fundraised seven-to-one, and went on to beat her Republican challenger in the general election by 40 points. Today, she’s more confident in both her own voting record and the ability to win, even as she refrains from expensive ad buys. “What we recognized in the last primary and the last election in 2020 is that over $20 million was spent and our voters decided that they wanted to make sure they had someone who was co-governing with them, who was successfully delivering for them, who was doing the things they needed them to do,” Omar said in an interview with Fox9.
Samuels has secured the endorsement of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local mayors, while Omar has the backing of the DFL.
Public safety has emerged as a key issue for both campaigns. For many across Minneapolis, and in a number of cities across the country, violent crime has risen in comparison to 2019 levels. For Minneapolis, the city has worked hard to improve public safety even as residents have voiced their concerns. Nevertheless, police recruitment and morale has been an ongoing issue across the country as perceptions and the risks of the job exacerbate the already difficult time departments are having recruiting new hires.
Finally, one of the more confusing races to watch is the special and primary elections for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. In February, Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn died of cancer, setting off a chain of events that have led to a special election to determine who will complete the remaining five months of Hagedorn’s term. At the same time, the primary election is underway for the newly redrawn district to see who will qualify to run for the November ballot and serve the next two years in Congress. According to FiveThirtyEight, the district leans strongly in favor of Republicans at R +15, indicating Republican and former state Rep. Brad Finstad is the favorite to win over former Hormel CEO and Democrat Jeff Ettinger.
Polls close at 9 p.m.
For more information, please visit
https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/election-day-voting/voting-hours/
