Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig has defeated Republican Tyler Kistner in Minnesota’s swing 2nd District.
Craig won the seat in 2018 by ousting Republican U.S. Rep. Jason Lewis in a rematch of their 2016 race, in a year that control of the House flipped from Republicans to Democrats. She was a former medical technology executive and former newspaper reporter before turning to politics. She was Minnesota’s first openly gay member of Congress.
Kistner, a veteran making his first run for office, campaigned on the slogan “Send in the Marine.” He served four overseas tours during his nine years as a Marine Corps officer.
The death of a third-party candidate on the ballot threatened to delay the election by three months. But the courts sided with Craig and declared that federal law setting uniform November election dates trumped a Minnesota law that would have required a special election Feb. 9.
Still, even in death, Adam Weeks of the Legal Marijuana Now Party drew nearly 6 percent of the vote, which was around three times Craig's margin of victory.
The district includes a band of suburbs south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as rural areas south of them. President Donald Trump narrowly won the district in 2016, but Joe Biden carried it this time.