WASHINGTON (AP) – Progressive Vermont state Sen. Becca Balint topped Lt. Gov. Molly Gray to win the U.S. Democratic primary on Tuesday, immediately positioning her to make history as the first woman to represent the state in Congress
Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is facing a centrist primary challenger, was looking to score another victory for the left. And another key race is unfolding in western Wisconsin, where the retirement of Democratic Rep. Ron Kind after 26 years in office opens up a seat in a district that has been leaning Republican.
Among the candidates running in the Republican primary to replace Kind is a former Navy SEAL who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, which preceded the uprising at the U.S. Capitol.
Minnesota is also holding a special election to fill the remaining months of Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s term following his death earlier this year from cancer. And voters will elect full-term candidates who represent the largely rural, Republican-leaning district.
Some of the top picks:
OMAR faces a challenge in favor of the police
A supporter of the “defund the police” movement, Omar is running in Minnesota’s 5th congressional district against a former Minneapolis City Council member who has made rising crime an issue in the race.
Don Samuels’ north Minneapolis home base suffers from more violent crime than other parts of the city, and the moderate Democrat helped defeat a ballot question that sought to replace the city’s police department with a new public safety unit.
Omar has championed calls to redirect more public safety funding to community programs.
Samuels and others also successfully sued the city to force it to meet the minimum police staffing levels required by the Minneapolis charter. Samuels says Omar, one of the leading voices of the national progressive movement, is divisive. He has attracted a lot of money to his campaign, although Omar, as the incumbent, has a significant cash advantage.
Omar, now seeking his third term, overcame a similar primary challenge two years ago from a well-funded but lesser-known opponent. He has said he expects to win easily.
“He’s had a lot of adversity and setbacks already. I don’t think his work is done, and I think he has a lot to bring to the table,” said Kathy Ward, a 62-year-old property janitor at a building apartments in Minneapolis that voted for Omar. “We have to give him a chance.”
Two other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — won their Democratic primaries last week.
SPECIAL ELECTIONS AND PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN SOUTHERN MINNESOTA
Voters in southern Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District will play a role in two races related to the seat.
In the special election, voters will choose between Republican Brad Finstad, who served at the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Trump administration, and Democrat Jeff Ettinger, a former Hormel Foods executive. Both won the May 24 special primary election for Hagedorn’s seat, and Tuesday’s winner will serve until January.
Finstad and Ettinger are also running in their parties’ primaries for a full term in the district, which includes Rochester and Mankato. Ettinger faces mostly token opposition, but Finstad expects a strong challenge from state Rep. Jeremy Munson, whom he narrowly defeated in a special election primary.
Munson has the support of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. He has said he does not believe President Joe Biden’s victory was legitimate, despite federal and state election officials, courts and Trump’s own attorney general saying there was no credible evidence the election was tainted.
REPLACEMENT FOR RON KIND AT WISCONSIN
Republicans see a pickup opportunity in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Kind.
The district covers a swath of counties along Wisconsin’s western border with Minnesota and includes La Crosse and Eau Claire. Republican Derrick Van Orden is running unopposed in his primary on Tuesday and has Trump’s endorsement.
Van Orden narrowly lost to Kind in the 2020 general election. He attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, but has said he never set foot on Capitol grounds during the uprising.
Four Democrats are vying to succeed Kind, including state Sen. Brad Pfaff, who previously worked for the retiring lawmaker and briefly served as state agriculture secretary. Pfaff is endorsed by Kind.
The others are small business owner Rebecca Cooke, retired CIA officer Deb McGrath and La Crosse City Council member Mark Neumann.
OPEN ESCORT OF THE VERMONT SENATE
Vermont is the latest state in the country to add a woman to its congressional delegation. Balint, who is the immediate favorite in November’s general election, would also be Vermont’s first openly gay member of Congress.
He received support from some of the nation’s top left-wing leaders, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Balint is vying for the lone state House seat being vacated by Rep. Peter Welch, who is running for the Senate and easily clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday. Welch is seeking to succeed Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s longest-serving member, who is retiring, creating Vermont’s first open Senate seat since 2006, when Sanders succeeded Jim Jeffords.
Gray is a former Welch staffer and has been backed by Leahy and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, but it’s not enough. Balint’s victory means the state’s congressional politics are poised to shift to the left and adhere more closely to Sanders’ progressive values.
___
Associated Press writers Doug Glass and Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP for complete coverage of the middle sessions on Twitter at