Republican Joe Teirab to face Angie Craig in November, according to early primary returns

Republican Joe Teirab will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in November after winning the primary election Tuesday, according to preliminary election results.

Teirab is the son of a Sudanese immigrant. He’s a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was both a county and federal prosecutor before running for Congress.

“Huge win for (Teirab)!” U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer tweeted. “Now it’s time to take care of business in (the 2nd Congressional District) and turn MN RED!” 

Teirab was endorsed by Emmer, former President Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Craig quickly released a statement criticizing Teriab.

“(Teirab) is a guy who recently moved to the district because he saw a political opportunity. He’s a guy who has spent months doing anything to win the support of Washington Republicans. And he’s a guy who has made it his life’s mission to take away reproductive freedoms from families and give those decisions to politicians,” Craig said. “That’s not valuing independence, that’s not valuing freedom. That’s party loyalty – and that’s not what this district is about.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee congratulated Teirab in a statement.

“Republicans are fully behind Joe Teirab because the voters of Minnesota are sick and tired of the hyper-partisan politics from Angie Craig and extreme Democrats who are making Minnesota communities less safe with their radical policies. Angie Craig knows she is in deep trouble, and we look forward to flipping this district red with Joe Teirab,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wasted no time trying to tie Teirab to Republican anti-abortion policies, arguing he’s made it his life mission to ban abortion without exceptions.

“While (Craig) is a staunch defender of reproductive freedom, Joe Teirab’s top priority is banning all abortions with no exceptions,” the DCCC said in a statement.

Craig has won a series of close elections since 2018 after losing her first race in 2016. She’s the first openly lesbian Minnesotan to serve in Congress after a career in the medical device industry. 

Teirab was the only GOP candidate with an active campaign. Tayler Rahm, who won the GOP convention endorsement, dropped out of the race last month to serve as an adviser to Trump’s Minnesota campaign, though he still appeared on the ballot.

Most voters interviewed by the Reformer Tuesday didn’t know Rahm had dropped out of the race.

Rahm’s campaign signs are also still up around the district and his campaign literature has reportedly continued to arrive in voters’ mailboxes, raising questions of whether he’d fully dropped out of the race. 

Teirab on Tuesday morning applauded Rahm. 

“Tayler Rahm is a true patriot … and I’m thankful for the race that he ran,” Teirab said. “I’m focused right now on uniting a party to make sure that we take the fight to Angie Craig and that we elect Republicans up and down the ballot in November.”