Democrats Saw Something Special in Minnesota
Special elections can be predictive of the general election, and so far Democrats have been performing better than expected.
Representative Ilhan Omar: a narrow win.
Photographer: Star Tribune via Getty Images/Star TribuneThere were primary elections in four states on Tuesday, but I’d like to focus on the special election to fill a vacant congressional seat in Minnesota. Special elections can be predictive of the general election, and there are three more of them over the next three weeks.
In some ways, the result in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District was unsurprising: It is a Republican district, and the Republican, Brad Finstad, won. But — and ballots are still being counted as I write — it appears that the Democrat, Jeff Ettinger, is going to do better than the district’s partisan lean: He is projected to lose by a margin of 51% to 47%, while the district voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 by 54% to 44%. The result was similar in a Nebraska special election in late June.