Meet the Candidates: Winners of the Congressionals Primaries in Minnesota and Wisconsin

by Conor Kenny — September 11, 2008 - 5:59pm
  • Topics: Election 2008, U.S. Congress
    • Share/Save Share this

    For full information, including candidates, click on a state's name

    By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas

    Our wrap-up of Tuesday’s primary elections is pretty hefty, so we've split it into three parts; you can find results from Minnesota and Wisconsin in this post. Remember, we have a full list of candidates after the break, including the professions of all the challengers. You can find the candidates from New England at the Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont portals and at the New England wrap up, and mid-Atlantic candidates at the District of Columbia and New York portals and at the mid-Atlantic wrap up.

    Minnesota
    Al Franken (D) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R) easily dispatched the competition in their respective parties’ primary elections on Tuesday. Coleman, at one time behind Franken in polling, has opened a lead over the actor/comedian. Both candidates are performing well on the fundraising front, in what has become a high-visibility contest on the national level. A half-dozen candidates from other parties will join Coleman and Franken on the November ballot.

    Unopposed in their respective primaries, Democrat Jigar Ashwin Madia and Republican Erik Paulsen are preparing for the general election in Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district. Incumbent Rep. Jim Ramstad (R) is retiring at the end of the 110th Congress.

    There are a couple of freshman incumbents in Minnesota being targeted by the opposition. In CD-01, Republican Brian Davis is challenging Rep. Timothy Walz (D). Meanwhile, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) is trying to hold off a Elwyn Tinklenberg (D).

    Wisconsin
    In the 1st congressional district, Rep. Paul Ryan (R) was unopposed Tuesday, and Marge Krupp beat out two other Democrats for the shot to challenge the incumbent. Most of the incumbents appear to be favored for victory in the general election, though freshman Rep. Steve Kagen is facing a rematch of the 2006 election: he narrowly defeated Republican John Gard in that contest.

    As part of Congresspedia's Wiki the Vote project, citizen journalists from around the country (and even some candidates!) have been logging information about the candidates' positions, biographies and records. A full list of the candidates and their professions are below, but you can also find them at their respective state portals via the Wiki the Vote project homepage. We need your help to find out more about these candidates, so if you know something about them please add it to their profile. (You can always contact one of the staff editors for help.)

    Here are the victors of Minnesota’s primaries:

    Here are the victors of Wisconsin’s primaries:

    • In the 1st district, Republican incumbent Rep. Paul Ryan will run against Marge Krupp (D), a chemical engineer and businesswoman.
    • In the 2nd district, incumbent Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) is being challenger by Republican Peter Theron, a university professor.
    • In the 3rd district, incumbent Rep. Ron Kind, a Democrat, is facing Paul Stark, who founded a construction company.
    • In the 4th district, incumbent Rep. Gwen Moore (D) faces no major-party opposition.
    • In the 5th district, Republican incumbent Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is also unopposed by major-party candidates.
    • In the 6th district, incumbent Rep. Tom Petri, a Republican, is running against retiree Roger Kittleson (D).
    • In the 7th district, incumbent Rep. Dave Obey (D) will face Republican nominee Daniel Mielke, who is self-employed in agriculture.
    • In the 8th district, incumbent Rep. Steve Kagen, a Democrat, is being challenged by John Gard, speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly.