At least four incumbent Democratic-Farmer-Labor state legislators were losing their seats to more progressive challengers in Tuesday’s primary elections.
Reps. John Lesch of St. Paul and Ray Dehn of Minneapolis and Sens. Jeff Hayden of Minneapolis and Erik Simonson of Duluth were trailing by wide margins as balloting drew to a close.
But all in all, it was a good night for incumbent lawmakers. No Republicans were losing to challengers from their own party, and all the other DFLers in contested races appeared headed to victories.
Lesch, a nine-term incumbent representing most of the northern neighborhoods of the city, fell 20 percentage points behind first-time candidate Athena Hollins of St. Paul, an attorney and progressive activist who is a member of the new Black Women Rising movement.
Hayden, the No. 2 DFL leader and one of just two Black men in the Senate, trailed challenger Omar Fateh by double digits with more than 90 percent of the precincts reporting in their south Minneapolis district. If Fateh holds on to win, he would be the only Somali American and the first Democratic Socialist elected to the state Senate.
Four-term Rep. Dehn was losing his seat to party-endorsed attorney and progressive activist Esther Agbaje. She led him, 47 percent to 42 percent, with all precincts reporting.
Hayden and Dehn are among the more liberal members of the Legislature, but Fateh and Agbaje are part of a growing number of left-leaning Democrats who contend their party’s officeholders haven’t moved fast enough on social justice issues.
In Duluth, DFL-endorsed attorney Jen McEwen jumped off to an early 3-to-1 lead over first-term Sen. Simonson, who was backed by several unions and Gov. Tim Walz. Simonson was the moderate in the race, while McEwen is more progressive, especially on environmental issues.
None of the results are final yet. Election officials must count mail-in ballots that arrive as late as Thursday to accommodate voters during the coronavirus pandemic.
The legislative primaries pick the final DFL and Republican candidates for 201 House and Senate seats across the state.
The winners move on to the Nov. 3 general election, where control of both chambers will be at stake. DFLers currently control the House by a 75-59 margin, while Republicans hold a narrower 35-32 advantage in the Senate.
There were 40 contested legislative primaries — 17 in the Senate and 23 in the House. Nine incumbent senators and seven seated House members were being challenged by members of their own parties.
Three of the four House and Senate caucus leaders were easily fending off intraparty challenges Tuesday night.
In the east metro, Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, had a 2-to-1 lead over first-time candidate Marquita Stephens of Woodbury in her party’s District 53 primary.
Senate DFLers elected Kent, a two-term lawmaker, as the new minority leader before the 2020 session, making her the first woman to head that caucus. She will face former Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens, a Republican, in the Nov. 3 election.
Marquita Stevens was one of four members of the organization Black Women Rising who were seeking to become the first African-American women elected to the state Senate in its 162-year history. All four were trailing in their primaries Tuesday night.
Minnesota’s top Republican official, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka of East Gull Lake, was routing challenger Richard Dane in a Brainerd Lakes area GOP contest. Gazelka was receiving 85 percent of the votes in early returns.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, was raking in 89 percent of the vote as he headed toward a landslide win over GOP challenger Beau Hullermann in District 31A on the northwest edge of the Twin Cities metro area.
Another top House Republican, Deputy Minority Leader Anne Neu of North Branch, had a huge lead over her opponent, Joelle Walmsley of Stacy, with about three-fourths of the precincts reporting.
Here are early returns from other east-metro legislative primaries:
- Senate District 65: Longtime DFL Sen. Sandy Pappas of St. Paul was leading by 2-to1 over Laverne McCartney Knighton, also of St. Paul and one of the Black Women Rising candidates. Pappas knows how to win contested primaries. She was first elected to the state House in 1984 after defeating Rep. Frank Rodriguez in a DFL primary, and she unseated DFL Sen. Don Moe in 1990.
- Senate District 43: Seven-term DFL Sen. Chuck Wiger of Maplewood had a commanding lead over challenger Natasha Lapcinski of Oakdale — 70 percent to 30 percent with three-fourths of the precincts reporting.
- Senate District 39: Josiah Hill of Stillwater was leading Brian Hile of Forest Lake by a 7-to-1 margin in the race for the DFL nomination to take on two-term Republican Sen. Karin Housley of St. Marys Point.
- House District 67A: DFL-endorsed John Thompson of St. Paul had an 18-point lead Hoang Murphy, who had suspended his campaign in the East Side district. They were running for the seat being vacated by 11-term DFL Rep. Tim Mahoney.
- House District 51B: DFL-endorsed Liz Reyer of Eagan had a double-digit lead over Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire in their party’s primary to succeed retiring four-term Rep. Laurie Halverson, DFL-Eagan.
- House District 51A: Rep. Sandra Masin, a six-term DFLer from Eagan, clobbered Justin Clark of Burnsville by a 4-to-1 margin to claim her party’s nomination.
- House District 56A: Former Republican Rep. Pam Myhra of Burnsville took a step toward a political comeback with a lopsided win over Basil Martin of Savage in the GOP primary. After two terms in the House, Myhra gave up her seat in 2014 to run for lieutenant governor. She ran unsuccessfully for state auditor in 2018.
- House District 38A: Donald Raleigh of Blaine was easily outpolling Doug Malsom and Kelly Gunderson, both of Lino Lakes, in the Republican primary to succeed retiring Rep. Linda Runbeck, R-Circle Pines.
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Minnesota Legislature 2020 Primary results: Four DFL Legislators in danger of losing seats - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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