Pete Stauber, whom President Donald Trump endorsed in the Republican primary in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District, rolled to a landslide victory on Tuesday night.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the former Duluth police officer held a 90 percent to 10 percent lead over his primary opponent, Harry Welty.
Stauber’s overwhelming win sets the stage for a general election in one of the three congressional districts currently represented by a Democrat that Republicans must flip to maintain their majority in the House of Representatives.
Joe Radinovich won the Democratic primary with 44 percent of the vote.
The Cook Political Report currently rates the race that will pit Stauber against Radinovich in November as a “toss-up,” and if the raw vote totals in the two primaries are any indication, Republicans will need a big get-out-the-vote push in November to win.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, 49,032 votes have been cast in the Republican primary, 18,051 less than the 67,083 votes cast in the Democrat primary.
Minnesota is one of the most important states in which the outcome of the battle for control of the House of Representatives will be determined in November. Of the 65 competitive House races this fall that Breitbart News identified as “must wins,” four are in Minnesota.
Like Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District, the First Congressional District is an open seat, currently held by a Democrat, that the GOP must flip.
Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN-01), who is vacating the seat, won the Democrat gubernatorial primary. Walz will face Jeff Johnson, the conservative Hennepin County commissioner, who upset former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Minnesota’s Second Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Jason Lewis (R-MN), and the Third Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN), are both Republican-held districts that the GOP must hold and win in November to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives.
Both Lewis and Paulsen faced no competition in their respective primaries.
In the First Congressional District, Jim Hagedorn won the Republican primary with 60 percent of the vote. He will face Dan Feehan, who won the Democrat primary with 83 percent of the vote, in the November general election.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, 47,248 votes were cast in the First Congressional District’s Democrat primary Tuesday night, while 42,385 votes were cast in the district’s Republican primary.
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