Former Minn. GOP Chair Jennifer Carnahan, others enter race to replace former Sen. Justin Eichorn

Several candidates have lined up for an anticipated special election to replace former Minnesota Sen. Justin Eichorn following his arrest in an underage prostitution sting, including Nisswa mayor and former state GOP chair Jennifer Carnahan.

Along with Carnahan, Republicans Keri Heintzeman, Josh Gazelka, Angel Zierden, Steve Cotariu, John Howe and Doug Kern have also announced campaigns for the open Senate seat.

Heintzeman said she was a district director for President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and is married to GOP state Rep. Josh Heintzeman. Gazelka describes himself as a business leader and is the son of former Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka.

On the Democratic side, former state House candidate Emily LeClaire said she also will run for the Senate seat.

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to call a special election this week for Eichorn’s seat in Senate District 6, which includes portions of Cass, Crow Wing and Itasca counties. Eichorn, of Grand Rapids, resigned from the Minnesota Senate last week after he was arrested and charged with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor.

Republicans are favored in the Senate District 6 special election. Eichorn won re-election in 2022, defeating his DFL challenger by 27 percentage points.

“It’s one of those districts that have moved away from us in the last decade. ... ”I don’t know what happens now with Trump in the White House and this scandal attached,” said DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy.

Carnahan, who was elected mayor of Nisswa in November, said she was encouraged to run for Eichorn’s seat by people “tired of the same career politicians who come out of the woodwork and make big promises, but then forget about us.”

“If you followed my tenure as Chairwoman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, you’ll remember I was on the front lines every day, standing strong with President Trump and our GOP leaders to fight back against the radical left to defend our country and state,” Carnahan said in a statement Monday.

Carnahan resigned from her Minnesota GOP leadership role in 2021 amid allegations she created a toxic workplace. She also faced scrutiny for her ties to GOP donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro, who was convicted in federal court of sex trafficking minors and sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Carnahan moved to Nisswa after the death of her husband, former Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn. She briefly ran for the late Hagedorn’s seat in Congress but was unsuccessful.

On her state Senate campaign website, Carnahan said she wants to cut “wasteful” government spending, lower taxes and support small businesses, among other things.

Keri Heintzeman has lived in the district for 30 years, according to her campaign announcement. She and her husband live in Nisswa with their six children.

Heintzeman, who owns a recreational rental business, said “Minnesotans are overtaxed and underserved.” If elected, she’d focus on “cutting spending and exposing and eliminating fraud.” She blasted the DFL for spending most of a previous $17.6 billion budget surplus on “their one-sided agenda.”

“We must demand accountability and responsible stewardship for how our tax dollars are being used,” said Heintzeman, who called herself the most conservative of the Republicans who had joined the race by Monday afternoon.

Heintzeman said her values — supporting gun rights, opposing abortion, combatting the “woke agenda” and exercising fiscal responsibility — match those of the district, and she can represent constituents from the area “better than any of the other candidates that have announced.”

As of Monday morning, Heintzeman was the only candidate to have established a campaign finance committee with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board.

Gazelka is a former small-business owner who now serves as vice president of customer success for a national marketing firm. His priorities include lowering taxes, supporting law enforcement and “ensuring parents — not the government — have the final say in their children’s education," according to campaign materials.

Gazelka said he had been hesitant about getting into politics for most of his life because of his father’s time in the Legislature, but he’s “fighting for [his] own kids' future.”

“I see so many things that I care about — small businesses, law enforcement and family values — that are under attack. And with how much chaos is going on already down at the Legislature, with how much chaos this unfortunate situation has brought up,“ Gazelka said, referring to Eichorn’s arrest and resignation, ”I couldn’t sit back and watch bad policies continue to make life harder for myself and for my community.”

Zierden is the former mayor of Breezy Point. On her campaign Facebook account, she describes herself as someone who can work across the aisle to get things done.

Howe is a businessman and retired veterinary practice owner, according to his campaign announcement. Cotariu is a U.S. Army veteran and businessman, according to the Brainerd Dispatch. And Kern describes himself as a conservative who believes in “Faith, Family & Freedom.”

The Democrat LeClaire ran for the state House against Josh Heintzeman last year and lost by a wide margin. She said in an interview that she had already planned to run for the Senate seat in 2026, but Eichorn’s resignation moved up the timeframe.

LeClaire said she is running to “put people first.” While she expects an uphill fight because the district has supported GOP candidates in recent elections, she thinks there are people “on the fence about where the Republican Party is heading right now.”

“Maybe they feel kind of without a home,” LeClaire said. “I just want to say I don’t really care if someone is a Republican or a Democrat or somewhere in the middle. I want to work for all of District 6.”

The Senate District 6 race will be the third special election in Minnesota this year.

A late-January special election was held to fill a Minneapolis Senate seat after DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic died from ovarian cancer. Another special election in March filled a Roseville-area House seat that had become vacant after a Democrat was ruled ineligible to serve because he failed to meet residency requirements.