As the country checks off its lengthy list of primaries, the Republican line-up for 2014 is taking shape. Here are the latest results from Tuesday’s primaries and what they mean for November’s general elections.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s GOP successor was chosen last night, with 73% of Minnesota’s 6th District Republicans voting for conservative radio host Tom Emmer, according to the Associated Press.
Emmer, a former state representative who was just a few thousand votes short of winning Minnesota’s governorship four years ago, ran as the Republican favorite to succeed the conservative icon, who has announced she’s resigning at the end of the current term last May.
“It feels good,” Emmer told the Pioneer Press on Tuesday night, adding, “you can’t get too excited. It really is just another benchmark.”
Although Emmer’s running in Minnesota’s most conservative district (Mitt Romney won by 15 points in 2012), he still could be facing stiff competition; Bachmann won re-election last year by just one point against Democrat Jim Graves. Emmer will take on Democrat Joe Perske in the November general election.
Elsewhere in Minnesota, businessman Mike McFadden snagged the party’s nomination to run against Democratic Sen. Al Franken, a favorite in the Democratic-leaning state, while Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson won a plurality of votes and the GOP nomination in a crowded primary to run against Democratic incumbent Gov. Mark Dayton.
Farther northwest, Republican establishment favorite Rep. Paul Ryan cleaned up in his Republican primary in Wisconsin’s 1st District, where he won 94% of his party votes, the AP reported. Ryan defeated Jeremy Ryan, a young challenger with no relation to the incumbent or residency in the 1st District, though he reportedly planned to move there if he won. The challenger Ryan was famously arrested in a political protest on a Segway, earning the nickname “Segway Jeremy Ryan.” The incumbent Ryan will face Democrat Rob Zerban in the November general election. Zerban also challenged Ryan in 2012, losing by 12 points—the smallest margin of victory Ryan’s had in his eight election wins. Across the country in Connecticut, the AP is reporting that the GOP selected Tom Foley to run on the party platform against a vulnerable incumbent Democrat Gov. Dan Malloy. Their contest this November is expected to be one of the tightest gubernatorial battles in the country.
Jane Timm Recommended
