Minnesota Senate Primary
Peggy Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor, has defeated Representative Angie Craig in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party primary to replace the Democratic incumbent senator Tina Smith, who is not seeking reëlection. Flanagan was endorsed by Smith and a number of national left-wing figures, such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Craig had received support from the Party’s establishment, including the former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. The two candidates had also received much attention for their diverging views on U.S.-Israel relations. Flanagan has criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide” and pledged not to take donations from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, while Craig has defended receiving support from the group.
In the Republican primary, Michele Tafoya, a former sideline reporter for “Monday Night Football,” defeated Royce White, a former N.B.A. player and a perennial candidate in recent Minnesota elections; Adam Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL; and Tom Weiler, a veteran.
Minnesota Gubernatorial Primary
The U.S. senator Amy Klobuchar, a former Presidential candidate, has secured the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s nomination for governor. Minnesota’s two-term governor Tim Walz decided to drop out of the race for reëlection, in January, amid criticisms that the state had mismanaged investigations into its welfare programs. In the general election, Klobuchar will face Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House, who defeated Mike Lindell, a close ally of President Donald Trump and the founder of the MyPillow company, in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
