Candidates who share party affiliations face off Tuesday for a spot on November’s ballot, with the intramural contests in some races effectively serving as the ticket to office.

Minnesota’s primary wasn’t as visible this year as in past cycles, but several contests have attracted attention for the pressure put on incumbents.

The primary set the stage for a fall campaign that will decide who fills a U.S. Senate seat, eight U.S. House spots, all 134 Minnesota House seats and a winner-take-all contest for the state Senate majority.

U.S. Senate

Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar is seeking a rare fourth term, something that hasn’t happened in modern times in Minnesota. To gain the DFL nomination, she must first get by four candidates running low-key campaigns: Steve Carlson, Ahmad Hassan, George Kalberer and Ole Savior.

Republicans were choosing among eight candidates to determine who would advance to a fall campaign against Klobuchar.

Two ran hard for the Republican state convention endorsement: former pro basketball player Royce White, who got the party nod, and retired Navy officer Joe Fraser, who continued his campaign despite falling short at the May party convention.

U.S. House

Six of eight sitting U.S. House members had candidates file against them from within the party. (Rep. Betty McCollum faced no opposition from a fellow Democrat and Rep. Dean Phillips is stepping away and leaving an open seat.)

But only two congressional members from Minnesota were pushed hard in primaries. 

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis, who is in a rematch with former City Council member Don Samuels. Omar has the DFL endorsement in her bid for a fourth term.

In western Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach was in a primary race with businessman Steve Boyd. Neither won the Republican endorsement at the district convention.

The winner of the Omar-Samuels race and the Fischbach-Boyd race will be favored in the general election given the partisan voting patterns in each district.

Minnesota Senate

One state Senate seat is on November’s ballot due to the resignation of DFL Sen. Kelly Morrison, who resigned to seek the U.S. House seat Phillips has occupied.

The Senate district in the Lake Minnetonka area will determine which party has the majority in January because the chamber is split 33-33 between Republicans and Democrats. 

Three Democrats hope to snag their party nomination: Kyle Meinen, Emily Reitan and Ann Johnson Stewart. The winner will face Republican candidate Kathleen Fowke.

Minnesota House

There are 22 primaries to determine fall candidates for the Minnesota House, where Democrats currently hold the majority.

Six GOP incumbents have primary challengers and one DFL incumbent does. There are 22 primaries overall.

(The Center Square) – With Minnesota primaries Tuesday, there are a few key races to watch for.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar faces a rematch against former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, who lost by 2.1% in the 2022 primary.

Republicans, meanwhile, are focused on picking a candidate too challenge incumbent US Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Omar was first elected in 2018, as the first Somali-American in Congress. Alongside Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, she is also the first Muslim-American woman in Congress.

While she defeated Samuels in 2022, their rematch is expected to be one of the closest watched races nationwide during this year’s primaries after two progressive “squad” members already lost their primaries — Cori Bush of St. Louis and Jamaal Bowman of New York.

In Minnesota primaries, voters can choose between a Democratic or Republican ballot.

Within the past week, Minnesota conservatives have encouraged voters on social media to pick the Democratic ballot to flip the primary.

Even Republican primary candidate, former NBA player Royce White, encouraged the plan.

“I will gladly give up 5,000 votes in the CD5 primary to accomplish this goal. Everywhere else in the state vote for Royce White for US Senate,” White wrote on X. “If you pull Democrat you can only vote Democrat for primary, that’s fine, we’ll see you in the general.”

White is the leading Republican candidate looking to defeat Democratic Klobuchar.

She is expected to win the Democratic nomination, while White received the state Republican party’s endorsement earlier in the year.

Some of White’s other notable endorsements include former Trump White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who is serving four months in prison on contempt charges.

Klobuchar has served in the US Senate since 2007. In 2018, she won reelection with 60.3% of the vote.

After Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris nominated Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 election, rumors began circulating online that Walz had signed a law requiring Minnesotan schools to stock tampons in boys’ bathrooms (archived):

The claim appeared several times on X, Reddit, and Facebook. The posts had accumulated tens of thousands of views as of this writing and earned Walz the sarcastic moniker “Tampon Tim” (archived):

Menstrual Products for ‘Menstruating Students’

In 2023, Walz signed a school funding bill into law containing a provision that guaranteed access to free menstrual protection to Minnesota students from the fourth through the 12th grade. This legislation required all school districts and charter schools to stock menstrual products, and the language of the law was gender neutral. It read (emphasis ours):

A school district or charter school must provide students with access to menstrual products at no charge. The products must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12 according to a plan developed by the school district. For purposes of this section, “menstrual products” means pads, tampons, or other similar products used in connection with the menstrual cycle.

While the law did not specifically mention boys’ bathrooms, it also did not restrict the rule to female or girls’ bathrooms. Paired with the laws protecting children’s access to gender-affirming care, schools that do not provide gender-neutral restrooms would have to stock boys’ bathrooms with such products to allow transmasculine students — that is, students who are either trans boys or students born female whose gender expression is masculine — to access them. Therefore, the claim is true.

‘Tampon Tim’ Goes Viral

Megyn Kelly, the conservative television show and podcast host whom former U.S. President Donald Trump once attacked for having “blood coming out of her wherever,” embraced the monicker “Tampon Tim” as criticism of this and other of Walz’s policies (archived):

But in 2024, talk of menstruation was no longer taboo in the public and political sphere. Far from putting people off, the fact that Walz supported such a law was, to many, a demonstration of empathy and good judgment, including from former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (archived):

https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/1821189725849276644