The latest: Minnesota primary election

All but one legislative incumbent facing a primary challenge in Minnesota prevailed in Tuesday’s primary elections.

The exception, in unofficial results, was GOP Sen. Paul Utke in northern Minnesota who was 192 votes behind state Rep. Mike Wiener, who had the party endorsement heading into the primary. Utke’s race was one of 11 where a sitting lawmaker was facing a candidate or candidates from within their own party.

Five other state senators came out on top. Five House members fended off challenges. That encompassed incumbents in both parties. Most were dominating victories so the left or right flanks didn’t deliver on attempts to oust lawmakers they didn’t think measured up.

All 201 seats in Minnesota's closely divided Legislature — and the House and Senate majorities — are on the line this November.

Minnesota reported its highest-ever number of ballots cast in a primary, according to unofficial numbers.

The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office reports that more than 1.1 million people cast primary ballots Tuesday, up from the previous record of 925,554 set in 2018.

Statistics show Democrats accounted for at least 700,000 of Tuesday’s votes. That’s a measure of enthusiasm that could worry Republicans headed into November.

Tuesday’s total works out to about 25 percent of eligible voters. Minnesota saw much higher primary turnout by percentage in the 1950s and '60s.

Rochester’s wide open mayoral race is now narrowed down to two candidates running against one another this fall: Joe Powers, a prominent catering business owner, and Jess Garcia, a psychologist and former school board member.

Eight candidates were vying for Rochester top office in Tuesday’s primary election after two-term mayor Kim Norton announced she wouldn’t run again earlier this year.

Powers earned nearly half of the votes cast in the city, while Garcia won about a quarter of votes. The other six candidates — which include the president of Rochester’s NAACP chapter and a former city council person — each received less than 10 percent of the votes.

Powers and Garcia will face off in the general election in November, and the winner will be tasked with guiding Rochester through a period of tremendous change.

Rochester is in the midst of massive years-long projects and the ensuing seemingly endless construction projects that come along with that. Mayo Clinic is building a $5 billion hospital downtown and the city is in the midst of a 20-year $5.6 billion economic development plan, known as Destination Medical Center — meant to make Rochester more attractive to visitors, including the patients who fly half way across the world to work with Mayo Clinic doctors.

Conversations around affordability in town seemed to have helped Powers and Garcia win enough votes Tuesday to advance to the general election. Both focused on the topic in their platforms, from fighting against property tax hikes to exorbitant child care costs, with a particular emphasis on affordable housing.

They differed in that Powers has proposed a larger focus on public safety, which includes investing in the Rochester Police Department, while Garcia is driving home the importance of city hall transparency.

The November election will determine which platform best resonates with Rochester residents.

Here are the final vote totals with 100 percent precincts reporting:

• 48.92% - Joe Powers, a restaurant and catering company owner.

• 24.45% - Jess Garcia, a psychologist and former school board member.

• 7.97% - Walé Elegbede, Mayo Clinic project manager and president of the Rochester branch of the NAACP.

• 7.22% Ben Zastrow, a small business owner.

• 3.58% - Ayub HajiOmar, a substitute teacher in Rochester Public Schools.

• 3.56% - Axe Abdimajid Ahmed, business owner

• 2.54% - Molly Denis, former city council member.

• 1.76% - Jerrod Lucker, a literacy tutor.

Minnesota’s congressional races are set following Tuesday’s primary election.

• 1st District: Republican Rep. Brad Finstad vs. DFL nominee Jake Johnson, a teacher.

• 2nd District: Former Democratic state Sen. Matt Little vs. Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt

• 3rd District: Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison vs. business owner and Republican Tyler Bass

• 4th District: Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum vs. Republican Paul Wikstrom, an engineer.

• 5th District: Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar vs. Republican John Nagel, a former state trooper

• 6th District: Republican Rep. Tom Emmer vs. Democratic nominee Doug Chapin, an educator.

• 7th District: Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach vs. Democrat Erik Osberg, small business owner.

• 8thDistrict: Republican Rep. Pete Stauber vs. DFL nominee Trina Swanson, a former federal worker.

See the complete vote totals and results from congressional races.

Speaking to supporters and press on Tuesday night following the Associated Press calling the GOP gubernatorial race for Lisa Demuth, Mike Lindell said his team needs to "reconcile these numbers" before conceding.

"If this is a chance to finally show that there's problems with the computers in our election, so be it," he said. "If I find nothing happened there and it was just a mathematical deviation of history that doesn't make sense, I will let you all know tomorrow."

Anders Folk and Cedrick Frazier will face off in the election for Hennepin County attorney in November after garnering the most votes in the primary.

Five candidates were on the ballot in the nonpartisan primary for the open Hennepin County Attorney seat: Folk, Frazier, Diane Krenz, Hao Nguyen and Matt Pelikan.

The candidates are running to succeed Mary Moriarty, who announced a year ago that she would not run for a second term.

State Rep. Frazier won the DFL endorsement for the position earlier this year. He previously worked as a public defender and a city council member in New Hope.

Former U.S. Attorney Folk previously worked as a prosecutor in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and in the military.

Minnesota is on track to surpass 1 million primary votes for the first time in state history.

As of the latest count, 943,060 votes have been tallied, with about 19 percent of precincts still to report.

Peggy Flanagan rode a liberal wave of support Tuesday to the DFL Senate nomination, aiming to become the first Native American woman to hold the office.

Flanagan, the current lieutenant governor, defeated a better-funded U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in the primary. Flanagan aligned with progressive figures like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the race, saying bold change within the party is essential.

Outside groups came in big for Craig, which Flanagan used as a call to stir her grassroots base. Flanagan had the DFL convention endorsement.

Peggy Flanagan watch party

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She moves to a general election race with Republican Michele Tafoya, the former sports broadcaster who won her party’s primary.

A Flanagan win in November would make history. There have been four other U.S. senators with Native American heritage. All have been men. Flanagan is a White Earth Band of Ojibwe member.

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth overcame a pair of weighty endorsements of her rivals to win the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday.

Demuth, who was preferred by more-mainstream Republicans and major party donors, defeated Kendall Qualls and Mike Lindell in a competitive primary. Qualls came in with the GOP’s convention endorsement and Lindell had the backing of President Donald Trump.

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Demuth is the first Republican in decades to defeat a party-endorsed candidate in a governor’s primary and will now face U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November. Klobuchar breezed to the DFL nomination.

Barring something unforeseen, Minnesota will have its first woman as governor. If Demuth prevails, she would be the first person of color to be governor as well.

With 40 percent of precincts reporting, Lisa Demuth is gaining a wider lead against Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls. Speaking to his livestream on Lindell TV, Lindell told viewers all the votes counted so far were early voters and he'll gain the advantage soon.

"I just feel our strength is going to be the day-of votes today," he said. Nearby, some supporters gathered in prayer.

"There's no way I'm conceding with 277,000 votes left to count,” Lindell said after Kendall Qualls conceded to Demuth.

Former state Sen. Matt Little will carry the DFL Party banner into a swing-district congressional race that pits him against a former colleague, Republican Sen. Eric Pratt.

Little, also a former mayor, won a multi-candidate primary for the mostly suburban 2nd Congressional District seat. Rep. Angie Craig decided against seeking a new term to run for U.S. Senate.

Little had the DFL endorsement in a race against state Sen. Matt Klein and state Rep. Kaela Berg.

The 2nd District has swung between the parties over the past decade but Craig managed to run up comfortable wins the last couple of elections. Those races were expensive and open seats tend to draw more attention and money.

Two-term DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison beat Minneapolis lawyer David Madgett in the Democratic primary. Ellison will take on Republican Ron Schutz in November.

Ellison was first elected to the post in 2018. He previously represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in Congress and a Minneapolis district in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Democrats have held the office for more than half a century; in 2026 it will be 60 years since Doug Head’s last GOP win.

Cheers went up at First Avenue as Peggy Flanagan took an early lead in returns from counties.

Among her supporters was Dale Korogi, a friend of Flanagan and her family, who said he's feeling very good about her chances.

"Her campaign has done extraordinary work," he said. He added that her work to help marginalized communities really appeals to voters.

"I think people are very excited to see her kind of champion something new and something exciting."

Former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya scored a decisive win Tuesday in her campaign to move from the NFL sidelines to the U.S. Senate, gaining the GOP nomination in an open-seat race.

Her DFL opponent was still to be decided as election officials counted votes in the primary between U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

Tafoya cruised past Republican-endorsed candidate Adam Schwarze, former basketball player Royce White and others on her way to the fall ballot. She was the favored candidate of national Republicans who are aiming to put the Minnesota race on the map in a year when the party is playing defense elsewhere.

Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006, but Tafoya hopes to appeal to enough independents to lift her in November.

Correction (Aug. 11, 2026): An earlier headline on this story incorrectly referred to which race Tafoya won.

The energy was mixed at the GOP primary election watch party at Jameson's Tavern in West St. Paul ahead of results rolling in as guests and party-endorsed candidates, some of whom face difficult primary odds, munched on wings and waffle fries.

Flanked by an American flag and the old state flag of Minnesota, state Republican Party chair Alex Plechash said he was proud to support a slate of veteran candidates.

With the exception of Adam Schwarze, the GOP-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, all candidates said they would ultimately support whichever Republican candidate wins the primary.

Supporters of Rep. Angie Craig gathered at Dual Citizen Brewing Company in St. Paul on primary night.

Craig is in an unprecedentedly intense and expensive primary race against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to replace U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, who is not running for reelection. Flanagan won the party’s endorsement in May but Craig pledged to stay through to the primary nonetheless. Both campaigns benefited from outside spending groups and attack ads.

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Linda Oi has supported Craig since she first ran for office in 2016. She said Craig’s work ethic has helped her pass meaningful legislation in an often polarized U.S. House of Representatives — and that work ethic will translate to the Senate.

“Angie has a ‘get it done’ work ethic, attitude,” said Oi. “She's smart. She's a fighter, and she knows what she's doing.”

Jim Johnson said Craig’s ability to work across the aisle shouldn’t be seen as a liability, but a skill because she needs to appeal to voters throughout Minnesota.

“We've seen her win in places that no one has won in a long, long time,” said Johnson. “She can represent the ‘burbs. She can represent the city, and the rural areas.”

Oi said she’s hopeful the DFL can come together behind whichever candidate wins a spot on the ticket this fall.

“I believe that we will get behind our candidate because we are not going to walk into the Republicans' hands,” said Oi. “We are better than that."

The ballroom at the Hilton in downtown Minneapolis is filling up with Mike Lindell supporters.

Speaking to reporters, Lindell said his campaign focused on reaching out to voters who cast ballots for Trump in the last two elections, but didn't vote in the 2022 primaries.

On election integrity, Lindell said "If there's anything we see, whether I win or whoever wins, we will call it out and say, 'open those up,’" referring to voting machines. Lindell said he would throw his support behind the Republican nominee if he loses tonight.

Amy Klobuchar’s bid to trade her capitol office in Washington for one in St. Paul moved forward Tuesday when the U.S. senator notched a decisive primary victory and the DFL nomination for Minnesota governor.

Klobuchar had only nominal opposition in her primary race. Republicans had a more competitive race to determine her fall opponent.

Klobuchar, a four-term senator, has amassed double digit wins in each of her past statewide races but the consequential governor’s race could prove closer.

The winner will succeed outgoing DFL Gov. Tim Walz.

Republican-endorsed Senate candidate Adam Schwarze said he won’t get behind fellow GOP candidate Michele Tafoya as the party nominee if she prevails Tuesday.

Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL, was hoping for a victory in a Republican primary that featured several candidates. He said Tafoya, a former sports broadcaster, is not principled enough to earn his support.

“I do not think I will be involved in Republican Party politics if I don't win this,” Schwarze said just before polls closed. “If you put Michele Tafoya and Angie Craig in a bucket and just pulled out their names, you wouldn't actually know which one's the Republican.”

Schwarze said he campaigned hard and is upset he was held out of a Farmfest debate. He said national Republicans worked against him.

“If I lose, it's not because we didn't do the right things,” he said. “It's just because we couldn't compete against the D.C. Goliath.”

Peggy Flanagan supporters are making their way into First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis — where the Minnesota Twins are also playing a game tonight. The iconic music club has MS Now on a big screen in front of the stage. Near the coat check, Flanagan supporters are building plates at a build-your-own nacho bar, and snacking on candied bacon and popcorn. Just after polls closed at 8 p.m. the crowd was starting to stream in more consistently.