Walz calls special election for 1st district following Hagedorn's death

A man speaks to people sitting in front of computers.
U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn talks with his staff as they wait for results at Charlie's restaurant in Mankato, Minn., on Nov. 3, 2020.
Jackson Forderer for MPR News 2020

Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday formally scheduled the election to fill the remaining term of U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died last week.

Candidate filing for the 1st Congressional District special election in southern Minnesota will begin next week. The election will be on Aug. 9 with a possible primary in May.

Candidates can register for the race starting next Tuesday, March 1 until March 15.

The winner of the race will serve until the new Congress convenes in January 2023. But there will also be a regular election to select a representative for the two years beyond that.

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It’s likely that some of the same candidates will run in both races.

The two races will be run on different political maps. The race for the two-year term will happen on recently redrawn maps while the special election will occur based on existing congressional boundaries.

Hagedorn’s 2018 victory over DFLer Dan Feehan was narrow — less than one-half a percentage point out of nearly 300,000 ballots cast.

In their 2020 rematch, Hagedorn widened his margin of victory over Feehan. And despite his health issues he had indicated he intended to run for reelection. He was actively raising money for another run in 2022 before he died on Thursday after battling kidney cancer for three years.