UPDATED: Finstad gets GOP nomination; ex-Hormel CEO wins DFL nod

May 25—Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger will be the Democratic contender to replace the late Congressman Jim Hagedorn in an Aug. 9 special election. On the Republican side, former state Rep. Brad Finstad of New Ulm nudged out current Rep. Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal in the special primary election.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, former Finstad had 38% of the vote. He was within less than 400 votes of Munson with 37% of the vote. The margin of victory is above the level that would trigger a taxpayer-funded recount.

Munson conceded the race Wednesday morning and said the party needs to unite behind Finstad.

For latest results go to https://tinyurl.com/yc645j28

While Finstad got the win, five area counties went for Munson while three went with Finstad.

Blue Earth County: Finstad 24.8%, Munson 61%.

Brown County: Finstad 76%, Munson 17.6%.

Faribault County: Finstad 29.6%, Munson 44.6%.

Le Sueur County: Finstad 21%, Munson 62%.

Martin County: Finstad 49%, Munson 32%.

Nicollet County: Finstad 43.4%, Munson 42.4%.

Waseca County: Finstad 29.8%, Munson 53.8%.

Watonwan County: Finstad 41%, Munson 47%.

Two marijuana legalization candidates were already set to advance to the Aug. 9 ballot because they were the only candidates in their pot-focused parties. Tuesday's voting, along with the absentee ballots cast in advance, determined which Democrat and which Republican would join them.

Ettinger, the retired Hormel CEO and DFL-endorsee, quickly pulled away on the Democratic side of the ballot, easily winning more votes than the combined total of the other seven candidates. With 672 of 697 precincts counted at 1 a.m. Wednesday, Ettinger had 64%. Sarah Brakebill-Hacke, a Preston resident who was homeless as a teen but graduated last year from Yale University, was second with 13%, followed by Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor, with 9%.

Candice Deal-Bartell, who operates the Cultivate Mankato daycare in Mankato, was fourth with 6%.

On the Republican side, it was immediately a two-man contest between Finstad and Munson. Hagedorn's widow, deposed Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan, was a distant third with 8%, followed by Matt Benda, an Albert Lea attorney (7%), and Rochester state Rep. Nels Pierson III, a Butterfield native and Gustavus Adolphus College graduate (5%).

A former state representative from New Ulm who was the top USDA official in Minnesota during the administration of President Donald Trump, Finstad is the preferred candidate of many popular and long-serving Republican legislators in southern Minnesota. Munson, by contrast, carried a large contingent of social media followers into the congressional campaign and was endorsed by national political figures such as Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Finstad held the lead for the first hour after polls closed, but Munson surged ahead by the time half of the precincts had been counted, only to have the race tighten again. With 76% of precincts reporting and nearly 30,000 votes cast, Munson had a 13 vote lead.

Just before 11 p.m., Finstad had edged ahead again by 30 votes. By 11:22 p.m. it was 414.

All of the top vote-getters appeared to be well-liked by their nearest neighbors. Ettinger won 91% of the Democratic vote in Mower County, Munson picked up 61% in Blue Earth County and Finstad finished with 76% support in Brown County.

By midnight, virtually every county in the district — which stretches from Wisconsin to South Dakota along the southern portion of Minnesota — had counted all ballots. The one holdout was Fillmore County in the southeastern corner of the state, where just 12 of 37 precincts were reporting.

A handful of GOP candidates were getting 3% to less than 1% of the vote in Tuesday's primary. Bob "Again" Carney Jr. of Minneapolis can now add the 1st District seat to his list of failed candidacies that also includes mayor of Minneapolis, state Senate, U.S. Senate and governor. The other Republicans on the ballot were J.R. Ewing, an ethanol plant manager who lives in Glenville near Albert Lea; Kevin Kocina, a Marine Corps veteran and union pipefitter from the Red Wing area; Ken Navitsky, a former Minnesota State University football player who lives in Rochester and who decided to drop from the congressional race in favor of a run for the state Senate; and Roger Ungemach, an engineer living in Fridley.

The Democratic also-rans — all of whom won less than 2.5% of the vote — included Warren Anderson, a North Mankato retiree who worked as a manager at Happy Dan's convenience stores and in other local retail jobs; Richard DeVoe, a Red Wing bookstore owner who abandoned his run after his name was on the ballot; George Kalberer, a resident of the Faribault-Northfield area; and James Rainwater, a Lake City attorney.

The candidates for Minnesota's two pro-pot parties — Legal Marijuana Now Party nominee Richard Reisdorf of Mankato and Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party nominee Haroun "Aaron" McClellan of Rochester — advanced automatically to the Aug. 9 ballot because they were unopposed within their parties.

So if the Republican results hold, the Aug. 9 ballot will offer voters a choice between Ettinger, Finstad, Reisdorf and McClellan.

The winner will serve until Jan. 3 — the end of the current two-year term won in 2020 by Hagedorn, who died of kidney cancer on Feb. 17. The winner of the next two-year term in a slightly different 1st District, redrawn after the 2020 census to equalize populations among Minnesota's eight congressional districts, will be decided in the Nov. 8 general election.

The winner of the special election, though, will have a strong head-start for the general election and many of the losing candidates in Tuesday's primary election are unlikely to run in the general election.

Like Tuesday's primary, the Aug. 9 special election will be in the current 1st District while the Nov. 8 contest will be in the new 1st District, redrawn somewhat as part of the redistricting process following the 2020 census. Most voters in The Free Press coverage area will continue to vote in the new 1st District.

For residents of Le Sueur County, western Brown County and eastern Cottonwood County, Aug. 9 will be their last chance to vote in the 1st District. In November, Le Sueur County voters will be switching to the 2nd Congressional District, and portions of Brown and Cottonwood counties, including towns such as Springfield and Mountain Lake, will move to the 7th District.