ROCHESTER, Minn. — Republican Brad Finstad will represent Minnesota First District for the next four-and-a-half months after defeating Democrat Jeff Ettinger in Tuesday's primary, according to the Associated Press.
Finstad fills the seat previously held by the late U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died in February after battling kidney cancer.
Finstad also won Tuesday's Republican primary, meaning he will be the party's candidate in November's midterm election.
While Ettinger missed out on winning the seat on Tuesday, he will have another go at it in November after winning the Democratic primary.
Finstad, a New Ulm farmer and soil lab operator, previously served in the state legislature, and more recently headed the regional USDA Rural Development Office in the Trump Administration.
The First Congressional District has historically skewed Republican. Former President Donald Trump carried that part of Minnesota in both 2016 and 2020. But Democrats haven't lost hope because Tim Walz represented CD1 in Congress for 12 years before leaving to run for governor in 2018.
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