DFL Rep. Angie Craig cruises to re-election in competitive Second District race

Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig defeated former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate Republican Joe Teirab, winning a fourth term representing the Second District in Minnesota’s most competitive congressional race.

With nearly all precincts reporting, Craig had 55% of the vote to Teirab’s 42%, and the Associated Press declared her the winner.

“It’s not even midnight,” she told supporters Tuesday night. “I’m in shock, actually, at the margin here.”

Craig has held the swing-district seat since the “blue wave” election of 2018 when she defeated Jason Lewis. The Second District encompasses the Twin Cities’ southern suburbs and runs south, including all of Dakota, Scott and Le Sueur counties.

Craig said voters recognized her independence and she pledged to continue to reach across the aisle and work with Republicans. She said her priorities would be the same regardless of the next administration, including targeting fentanyl and addressing a mental health and addiction crisis.

“I served when President Trump was president previously and he signed four of my bills into law,” Craig said. “I’ll work with anyone with a good idea regardless of party.”

Craig made abortion rights central to her re-election campaign in the wake of the 2022 Dobb’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

The message resonated with Woodbury resident Alex Anderson who said he backed Craig because of Teirab’s views on abortion. “I don’t really care that much about abortion but I care more about people trying to take the choice away,” he said.

Teirab said he’s personally opposed to abortion with the exception of rape, incest and concern for the life of the mother. He said the matter should be left up to individual states to regulate.

Teirab was born in the Twin Cities and grew up in rural Minnesota. His father immigrated to Minnesota from Sudan. Before he was a federal prosecutor, Teirab worked as assistant county prosecutor and served in the Marines.

Eagan residents Elli Lindstrom, 33, and her partner Brian Martin, 40, backed Teirab over Craig, even though Lindstrom said the DFLer has some policies “I can get behind.” Martin said the state and country “are going in a direction that I don’t like, so incumbents – sorry, bye!”

The Second District was seen as one of the roughly two dozen seats that will decide control of the House. As the crowd thinned at her election night party in Eagan Craig reflected on the presidential race saying she always felt it would be a tossup with a chance for Democrats to win.

Craig was one of the first Democrats in the country to call on Joe Biden to step aside, even raising the alarm in 2022 that her party should look for another leader at the top of the ticket. She said Tuesday that Harris had only 131 days to put together a campaign and ran an “exceptional” campaign.

”I think it is a polarized electorate,” Craig said, pledging to work with people who voted for and against her and Trump.

Craig said Congress will have to discuss expiring tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, as well as Trump tax cuts from 2017 set to expire in 2025. That round of tax cuts had “some good things” and some “problematic areas,” Craig said.

Teirab took the stage shortly before 11 p.m. to announce his defeat, saying he had left a voicemail for Craig congratulating her on her victory.

He thanked the room and said, “I’m proud of who we are as Americans. I’m proud to be an American … and I’m most proud of the love and support that you showed me.”

Teirab said his campaign got support from the state party despite the lack of endorsement. He said Craig “had a lot more resources and money than we did and was able to drive a message that it was just difficult for us to respond to but look, that’s part of the game. Angie Craig played it, she won this race and so the credit should go to her.”

A third-party candidate, Thomas Bowman, suspended his campaign and endorsed Teirab. Bowman got 2% of the vote and was on the ballot because he dropped out after the deadline to remove his name.