Most incumbent lawmakers fend off primary challengers

Most of the sitting Minnesota lawmakers who faced intra-party challengers won their primary elections Tuesday.

Only one incumbent lawmaker was unseated: Sen. Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids, who lost by fewer than 200 votes to Rep. Mike Wiener, who had earned the Republican endorsement in the race. (A data entry error by the county resulted in the secretary of state’s website showing Utke as the winner late Tuesday night, but was quickly corrected, according to the secretary of state.)

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, won out against Lynette Lungay Dumalag, who presented herself as a more progressive alternative to Latz on issues including housing and support for immigrants. Dumalag earned 40% of the vote in the west metro district — not enough to beat Latz, the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee chair who has served in the Legislature since 2002.

In Brooklyn Park, DFL Sen. Susan Pha backed Wynfred Russell, a former City Council member running against one of the district’s House members, Rep. Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley. Momany-Hiltsley, meanwhile, supported Pha’s challenger, Nehemiah Garley. Both incumbents won their primaries, though Russell came within 7 points of Momanyi-Hiltsley.

St. Cloud City Council President Mike Conway beat out the Republican-endorsed candidate, John Jose, in the GOP primary for District 14A, which includes parts of St. Cloud and Waite Park. Conway will run against Abdi Daisane in the general election, which Daisane lost in 2024 by 13 points. 

Full primary results are available here.