Everything voters need to know about the Minnesota primary election

By KAALTV

Primary election preview

The day's local, regional and national news, detailed events and late-breaking stories are presented by the ABC 6 News Team, along with the latest sports, weather updates including the extended forecast.

(ABC 6 News) — The 2024 Minnesota primary election is set to take place on Tuesday, August 13th.

If residents haven’t taken advantage of some of the early voting options, polling sites will be open from 7 AM to 8 PM on Tuesday. Voters can find their site by using the Minnesota Secretary of State’s poll finder at https://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/.

This year’s primary election will narrow down the candidates for the November 5th general election.

The seat for Congressional District 1 will be on the ballot with Republican incumbent Brad Finstad being challenged by Gregory Goetzman and Shawn Tweten. On the Democratic side, Rachel Bohman is running unopposed.

In the Senate, incumbent Amy Klobuchar faces four challengers in the Democratic race. Those challengers are Steve Carlson, Ahmad Hassan, George Kalberer, and Ole Savior. On the Republican side, John Berman, Loner Blue, Joe Fraser, Alysia Gruenhagen, Patrick Munro, Raymond Peterson, Christopher Seymore, and Royce White will be on the ballot.

Meanwhile, in the Minnesota House District 26B race, Republicans Jesse O’Driscoll and Dan Sepereda will be on the ballot to run against incumbent Tina Liebling.

In more local races, Rochester residents will see a number of seats on the ballot.

Rochester City Council at-large candidates include Shaun Palmer, Randy Schubring and Dean Koutsoukos, who are looking to replace Council President Brooke Carlson after she opted not to seek a second term.

There are also three Ward seats included in this year’s primary: Wards 2, 4 and 6.

Ward 2’s candidates include four names: Breanna Bly, Nick Miller, Loring Stead, and Tripp Welch. Current council member Mark Bransford has opted against running for reelection.

In Ward 4, the incumbent Kelly Rae Fitzpatrick will be challenged by two other candidates: Andy Friedrichs and Cory Siegenfrie.

Finally, Ward 6 Council member Molly Dennis is facing three challengers: Becca Dyer Tesch, Dan Doering, and Mark Schleusner.

Outside of Rochester, the Olmsted County District 3 commissioner seat will also be on the ballot. Incumbent commissioner Gregg Wright faces challengers April Sutor and Karl Johnson.

For Austin voters, the role of City Mayor will be on the ballot with current Mayor Steve King looking for reelection. His challengers will be Jeff Austin and Bradley Johnson.

Staying in Austin, the City Council seats for Ward 1 and Ward 3 will be on the ballot as well. Geoff Baker was appointed to fill in for Oballa Oballa who left the role to run for a different seat.

The candidates for Ward 1 in this year’s election are Miguel Garate, Patrick L. Lange, Varinh VanVugt, and Rebecca Waller.

For Ward 3, incumbent Paul Fischer will be challenged by Alexander Marshall and Brian Prentis.

Finally in Austin, the Utility Board Commissioner seat will be on the ballot as well with candidates being Tyler Hulsebus, Kristin Johnson, and Jay Lutz.

In Spring Valley, a City Council race includes Greg Brooks, Chris Danielson, and John Dols. The Spring Valley Mayor race is between Justin Mlinar and Luan R. Ruesink.

Staying in Fillmore County, the Commissioner District 3 seat will have three candidates: Michael David Hadland, Lawrence Hindt, and Gerald A. Wolf.

Meanwhile, Freeborn Commissioner County District 1 is between Julie Ackland and Brad Edwin. Mower County’s Commissioner District 2 seat also has two candidates in Polly Glynn and Steve Reinartz.

Not registered to vote? Learn how to do so by clicking here. Again, voters can find their voting sites by clicking here.

A full look at the primary election races can be found here.