Special Election Set to Fill Hagedorn Seat
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gov. Tim Walz has formally called a special election to fill the vacant congressional seat of Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died last week following a battle with kidney cancer.
A special primary will be held on May 24 followed by the special election on Aug. 9 (which also happens to be the primary day for the general election.)
Potential candidates must file with the Secretary of State between March 1 and March 15 by 5 p.m.
Candidates for the special election will likely run again in the November election that will decide who will hold the seat in the next Congress under Minnesota’s new political maps released last week.
As previously reported by The Well News, Hagedorn was a conservative Republican and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, whose political philosophies closely mirrored those of his largely rural district in southern Minnesota.
In a written statement, Minnesota Republican Party Chairman David Hann said because of the proximity of Hagedorn’s death to the state’s recently completed redistricting effort, the party would not be holding a convention to endorse a candidate for the special election.
“As part of reorganizing our party units due to redistricting following the U.S. Census, last week I dissolved all of our legislative and congressional district party units to prepare for reapportionment,” Hann explained. “These party units currently have no authority to conduct business and will need to be reconstituted in order to do so.
“As part of the reapportionment process, 1st Congressional District Republicans will have a convention in April and will have the opportunity to endorse a candidate for Congress. We look forward to supporting the eventual Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District, and will work hard to keep this seat in GOP hands to help fire Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in November.”
The website FiveThirtyEight rates Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District as leaning Republican.
Among those being speculated about as potential Republican candidates are Hagedorn’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, a former state GOP chair; State Sen. Julie Rosen; and state Reps. Jeremy Munson, Nels Pierson and Brad Finstad.
Another possible contender, state Sen. Carla Nelson, has already announced she will not run for the seat but will instead run again for the Minnesota state Senate.
One Democrat has announced his intention to run. Richard DeVoe, owner of Fair Trade Books in Red Wing, Minnesota, has said he will formally announce his intention to run on Feb. 28.
He has told reporters he hoped to run as what he called a “Better Democrat.”
“I think we need better leadership,” he said. “Democracy is imperiled, and we need to get back to our roots as the Democratic Party.”
DeVoe, who previously lived in Colorado ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat there in 2004, fueled mostly by his opposition to the war in Iraq.
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