Minnesota holds special primary for late congressman’s seat

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Voters in southern Minnesota will choose candidates in a special primary next week in the first step in a complicated process for filling the seat of Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died of cancer in February.

The GOP candidates Tuesday for the 1st District seat include Hagedorn’s widow, Jennifer Carnahan, who has leveled a series of bitter attacks in the final days of the campaign against two of her main rivals in the primary, state Rep. Jeremy Munson and former state Rep. Brad Finstad. She has labeled both of them as captives of “Establishment Republicans and the Washington Swamp.” And she has claimed that her husband made it clear before he died that he did not want Munson to replace him.

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate to replace the staunchly pro-Trump Hagedorn, but Carnahan, of Blue Earth, has been making the most overt appeals to Trump supporters. Her website is loaded with photos and videos of her and Hagedorn with Trump, and of her appearances at Trump campaign events in 2020.

Carnahan was forced out as chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota last August after a prominent donor was indicted on sex-trafficking charges and former staffers complained of a toxic work environment. And she was sued by Hagedorn’s mother, stepfather and sister this month in a dispute over money they loaned to help cover his medical bills. But she’s painting herself as the best candidate to carry on her husband’s legacy — and Trump’s.