Who’s Running in Minnesota in 2022: Statewide Offices and U.S. House

Incumbent Auditor Julie Blaha was elected to the position in 2018. Before becoming auditor, she was president of Anoka-Hennepin Education Minnesota and secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

Wilson, a constitutional law attorney who formerly ran a medical device research company, said he decided to run for auditor after recent reports of fraud in a nonprofit aimed at feeding children and cost overruns in the Southwest light-rail line. While the auditor doesn’t have oversight of those two issues, Wilson said he will root out cronyism in the position.

Brad Finstad served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the 21B district from 2003 to 2008. After leaving the House, he served as a USDA Rural Development official during the Trump administration.

Ettinger was the CEO of Hormel from 2005 until 2016 and currently chairs the Hormel Foundation, which supports initiatives like community college scholarships for Austin high school students. He also is co-chair of Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota Council on Economic Expansion and teaches at the University of Minnesota.

Finstad was appointed Minnesota director for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Donald Trump. Before that he served three terms in the Minnesota House and led the state Turkey Growers Association and the Center for Rural Policy and Development. Finstad won a crowded May primary for the special election to fill the remainder of Hagedorn’s term.

Munson is a state representative from Lake Crystal, first elected in 2018, who broke from the House Republican Caucus to start his own conservative bloc with three other legislators. He is known for voting against most government spending and “omnibus” bills that wrap many pieces of legislation into one bill. He also clashes with Republican leadership frequently. Munson came in second in the special election primary to serve out Hagedorn’s term.

Benda is an agricultural law attorney and describes himself as a Republican party activist. He’s also past chair of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce.

Ettinger was the CEO of Hormel from 2005 until 2016 and currently chairs the Hormel Foundation, which supports initiatives like community college scholarships for Austin high school students. He also is co-chair of Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota Council on Economic Expansion, teaches at the University of Minnesota, and is on the boards of Ecolab and The Toro Company. He won the May DFL primary for the special election by a wide margin.

Rainwater is an attorney who runs a law and mediation firm and is a member of the Lake City Charter Commission. His website describes himself as an “Eisenhower Republican.”

Abrahamson’s website says he will give voice to progressive issues including cannabis legalization, Medicare for All and tuition-free education.

Reisdorf is a military veteran, retiree and supporter of the Green Party who said cannabis shouldn’t be considered a “Schedule 1” drug federally along with substances like heroin. Reisdorf said marijuana is a “natural” and “God made” drug that can be used to help treat veterans instead of opiates that many are addicted to.

Craig is the current representative of Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. Craig started her career as a newspaper reporter and later worked her way up to become an executive at St. Jude Medical before running for Congress. Craig sits on several subcommittees including those in Agriculture, Energy and Commerce and Small business. Craig is a member of the LGBT community and co-chairs the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

Kistner is a Minnesota native who served nine years of active duty in the Marines before he and his wife Marie put roots down in Prior Lake. A main focus of Kistner’s campaign is education: his campaign website says he believes “the political indoctrination of our students in public schools must stop,” and that the teaching of critical race theory is unacceptable.

Overby is an IT director working in education, according to her website. She supports legalization of marijuana and some progressive policies like Medicare for All.

Phillips is the current representative of Minnesota’s Third Congressional District. Phillips first ran for Congress in 2018, when he defeated incumbent Republican Erik Paulsen. He held onto his seat in 2020, and currently serves on several subcommittees including those in Financial Services and Foreign Affairs. Phillips also serves on the House Committee on Ethics and is a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus.

Weiler is a Navy veteran whose time in the military was cut short when he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s Disease. Weiler now lives in Minnesota with his wife an dchildren.

McCollum is the current representative of Minnesota’s Fourth Congressional District. McCollum first assumed office in 2001, and she has served on many committees and subcommittees over the years, most notably now as chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Badhasso was born in a rural village in Ethiopia, and her family fled ongoing violence in the country when she was a child, becoming refugees in Kenya and finally making it to safety in the United States. Badhasso is a community organizer and is running a campaign aiming to be a more progressive candidate than McCollum.

Moghul is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All and a foreign policy agenda that calls for “direct military airstrikes” on “military installations” of the Syrian, Venezuelan, and North Korean governments, according to his website.

May Lor Xiong, a St. Paul resident, is running for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District as a Republican. According to her campaign website, she moved to the U.S. at age 8 as a Hmong refugee, and has worked as an ESL teacher and a real estate broker.

Rechtzigel’s website says he was born in rural Minnesota and in 2020 he lost to McCollum by more than 130,000 votes after winning the Republican primary in the 4th District. His website says he will “stop the looting, stop the arson” and stop the “rioting” and he criticzies McCollum for PFAS chemicals in water in the district.

Silver drives a semi-truck delivering mail from Eagan to LaCrosse, Wisconsin and has been a pastor. He has written a book about what he says was racism in the church and school where he was pastor and principal.

Omar is the current Democratic representative of Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. Omar took office in 2019 making a number of electoral firsts: She is the first Somali-American, the first naturalized citizen from Africa and the first non-white woman elected from Minnesota and one of the first two Muslim women (along with Rashida Tlaib of Michigan) to serve in Congress

Don Samuels first began a career in local politics when he joined the Minneapolis City Council in 2003. In the 2020 election, Samuels was an outspoken critic of the referendum effort to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department.

Kern’s candidacy is staked in large part on falsely questioning whether Omar is a U.S. Citizen. She was formerly a Benton County Planning Commissioner.

Ross runs a construction business and his website says he became successful through Christ after struggling with addiction and homelessness.

Davis is a Minneapolis native who is running against Omar on the premise that Minneapolis Democrats “manipulated racial division to gain power” and brought violence to the city.

A native of the Rondo community of St. Paul, Royce White is a former professional basketball player who has received media attention for leading protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and for protesting against Uyghur genocide during an Big 3 postgame interview.

Emmer is the current representative of Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District. Emmer first took office in 2015 and has since been appointed as the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Hendricks is a nurse anesthetist. Hendricks worked as a volunteer on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. She currently lives in St. Louis Park.

Fischbach is the current representative of Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District. Fischbach was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1996 and became the first female president of the Minnesota Senate in 2011. Fischbach also briefly served as lieutenant governor of Minnesota after then-Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to the U.S. Senate.

Johnson is an Army veteran who settled in the Twin Cities area with his wife and three kids. In 2004, Johnson joined the Texas National Guard. He retired in 2018 and moved with his family to Beltrami, MN and settled on an 8-acre homestead.

Stauber is the current representative of Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. Stauber, a former professional hockey player and Duluth police officer, was first elected in 2018. Stauber serves on several subcommittees including those within the Transportation and Infrastructure and Small Business Committees.

Ernest Oppegaard-Peltier moved with his husband to Bemidji, MN from Grand Forks, ND in 2018. He has spent almost two decades engaging with his community by being on state task forces advocating for foster and adoption youth, campaign finance reform, racial justice and against political corruption. Previously running in the Seventh District, Oppegaard-Peltier was drawn into the new Eighth District after redistricting changed some district boundaries.

Schultz is serving her fourth term in the Minnesota House representing Duluth. She’s an economics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth and has a specialty in health care. Schultz chairs the House’s Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

Munter is a retiree who worked for Delta in Chisholm. He lives on a hobby farm and is anti-copper nickel mining in the region. He said the major issue in the campaign is affordable housing and property valuations.