In polling places across Minnesota Tuesday, voters came out to side with candidates for local, state and national offices based on who they said most closely aligned with their values.
In the minds of many voters, Tuesday was a test of whether candidates are conservative enough, progressive enough or moderate enough to carry through to November.
Democrats around the Twin Cities are deciding whether to send Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum back to Congress. Republicans are picking between Jim Schultz and Doug Wardlow to determine which attorney general candidate takes on Democrat Keith Ellison this fall.
Voters across the state are spending the day determining intra-party battles for legislative seats and local offices. Except for one contest in Southern Minnesota, that is, where the usual midterm primary race to narrow the field of First Congressional District hopefuls is joined by a special election between Republican Brad Finstad, Democrat Jeff Ettinger and two marijuana party candidates. The special election will determine who temporarily represents the district in Washington following the death of U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn.
There's also a slate of seven candidates seeking the Hennepin County attorney's job, and that field will be narrowed to two.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, observers around the state said primary election turnout appeared in line with other mid-term years. And around 141,000 Minnesotans statewide had voted early, which was similar to the early voter turnout in the last midterm race — pre-COVID — in 2018.
While there were hotly contested Democratic and Republican primary battles for the governor's seat four years ago, neither DFL Gov. Tim Walz nor his GOP challenger Scott Jensen has a formidable primary opponent this year.
Still, they drew their supporters to the polls.