Results From the August Primary

Minnesota held its 2026 primary on August 11. The highest profile race for DFLers statewide was the Senate primary, which Peggy Flanagan won with 59% to Angie Craig’s 39.4%. In Olmsted County, she won by 67.7% to 30.1%. In the primary for Governor, Amy Klobuchar won by a huge margin with almost 90% statewide and 91% in Olmsted County. Keith Ellison also won big in the Attorney General primary with 85% statewide and in our county. Steve Simon and Zack Filipovich were unopposed in their Secretary of State and Auditor primaries.

Republican-endorsed candidates did not do well in the primaries. Four endorsed candidates had primary opponents. Only one won. In the Senate primary, Michelle Tafoya won with 50.2%, beating Adam Schwarze, the endorsed candidate, and Royce White, the 2024 Republican candidate for Senate. In the primary for Governor, Lisa Demuth won with 43.4%, beating Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls, the endorsed candidate. In the Auditor primary, Scott Jensen, the 2022 Republican candidate for Governor, got over 2/3rds of the vote, swamping Nate George, the endorsed candidate. In the Secretary of State primary, Tad Jude, the endorsed candidate. Beat Wendy Phillips from Oronoco, 60-40%. Ron Schutz, running for Attorney General, was unopposed in the primary.

Local legislative candidates had primaries only in Senate District 20 for Republicans and House District 20B in both parties. Here are the candidates for November:

Senate District 20
DFL: Jason Lohmann
Republican: Steve Jacob (who beat Teddy Kimble 83%-17%)

Senate District 24
DFL: Simon Glaser
Republican: Nels Pierson

House District 20B
DFL: Steve Holm (who beat Mark Thoreson 74-26%)
Republican: Sara Bertschinger (who beat Brady Rouhoff 64-36%)

House District 24A
DFL: Heather Holmes
Republican: Duane Quam

House District 24B
DFL: Tina Liebling
Republican: John Ajouri

Locally, Joe Powers and Jess Garcia were the top two candidates in the primary for Rochester’s Mayor, with 49% and 24%, respectively, so they will run against each other in November. In the Ward 5 primary for Rochester City Council, Shaun Palmer and Ruchi Gupta were first and second, respectively, so will oppose in each in November. In the Olmsted County Board District 6 primary, Bob Hopkins and Michael Wojcik advanced to the general election with 47.5% for Hopkins and 31.1% for Wojcik.

To see who’s on your ballot, go to https://www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/whats-on-my-ballot and click on View my sample ballot, then put in your address. This will also tell you where to vote if you’re going on Election Day.

Early Voting Starts Friday, September 18

If you have already requested an absentee ballot for the November election, you should have it or get it soon. If you don’t receive it soon or want to request one, call the Olmsted County Elections Office at 507-328-7650. You can also request a ballot electronically at mnvotes.org. Please complete the ballot and return it as soon as possible so it will be received by November 3. If you don’t want to trust your ballot to the mail, there will be a drop box available in the lobby of the Elections Office (2122 Campus Drive SE, Suite 300, in Rochester) when the office is open (see below)

If you want to vote early in-person (highly recommended this year), you can do that at the Elections Office starting September 18. For the first four weeks, you will vote as if you were requesting and completing an absentee ballot.

Starting Friday, October 16, you can “early vote”, which means you can complete your ballot at the Elections Office and put it in a tabulator just as you would on Election Day.

Election Office hours are 8 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and it will also be open from 5-7 PM on Tuesday, October 27 and 9 AM-3 PM on Saturday, October 24, Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1.

There will be a second early voting location in Conference Room 104 of the Government Center (201 4th St SE, Rochester) from Tuesday, October 27 through Monday, November 2. It will be open the same hours as the Elections Office will be for those days.

FDR Keynote Speaker Rep. Kelly Morrison addresses the room

FDR Dinner Was a Success Again

The 2026 FDR Dinner was August 30 at the Empire Event Center in Rochester. Over 200 people attended. Julie Blaha, the Auditor, was emcee. We had a strong list of DFL speakers including legislative candidates; Jake Johnson, our candidate for Congress; Richard Carlbom, state party chair; Zack Filipovich, the Auditor candidate; Ben Schierer, the Lieutenant Governor candidate, Peggy Flanagan, the U.S. Senate candidate; and our keynote speaker, Kelly Morrison, who represents Minnesota’s 3rd District in Congress. Virginia Wright-Peterson talked about Eleanor Roosevelt and her connection to Rochester. There were successful silent and live auctions.

Planning has already begun for the 2027 dinner which is expected to be at the Empire Event Center next September. Watch for more information in the spring!

Parades and Fair Recap

Olmsted 20/24 DFL activists had a busy summer with parades and other events. As a unit, we were involved in all the local parades we could be in, including Pine Island, Viola, Rochester, Eyota, Byron, and Chatfield. While we couldn’t enter the Stewartville parade as a unit, many of us marched with the units the Jake Johnson, Simon Glaser, or Heather Holmes campaigns entered. We had a particularly large turnout for the Rochesterfest parade, where Senator Klobuchar and Jake Johnson marched with us. Our reception from paradegoers was unusually positive this year, even at the more rural parades.

We, along with Senate District 25 DFL, had a booth at the Olmsted County fair and at the Juneteenth celebration.

We’ll be back at all these next year. Please join us for as many as you can.

You Can Still Vote by Mail

While Trump, who doesn’t really have any say in this, has tried hard to make voting by mail hard or impossible by issuing illegal orders to the Postal Service, his efforts have been stopped by Federal courts. Olmsted County is in the process of sending out absentee ballots and it’s unlikely the Postal Service will be allowed to interfere with that or with voters returning ballots. However, mail has been taking longer than usual to reach its destination, so if you’re voting by mail, get your ballot in the mail as soon as possible, as it must be received by Election Day. If you don’t want to trust your ballot to the mail, there will be a drop box available in the lobby of the Elections Office (2122 Campus Drive SE, Suite 300, in Rochester) when the office is open, which is at least 8 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday.

You can check if your absentee ballot has been received and accepted at https://mnvotes.sos.mn.gov/abstatus/index. If it’s getting close to Election Day and your ballot has not been accepted, you can still vote early in-person or on Election Day if that is possible for you.

Johnson and Finstad Will Debate Twice in October

KTTC and KEYC will host a live “candidate forum” between Rep. Brad Finstad (GOP) and Congressional District 1 challenger Jake Johnson (DFL) Thursday, October 8 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in KEYC’s North Mankato studios. It will be commercial-free and will be on KTTC’s digital platforms. KAAL will host a live debate on Tuesday, October 13 from 6 to 7 PM at its Rochester studios. It will be on KAAL as well as digital platforms such as the station website, mobile app, and social media channels. There will not be a live audience.

Campaign Signs Are Available at the DFL Office

We have signs for Steve Holm, Jason Lohmann, Heather Holmes, Tina Liebling, and Jake Johnson. We are trying to keep signs in stock for statewide candidates. We now have signs for Peggy Flanagan and are expecting Amy Klobuchar, and Zack Filipovich signs soon. You can call 507-536-9785 to see if the signs you want are in or stop by the DFL office at 1500 1st Ave, NE, Suite A in Rochester. We are officially open from 1-4 PM Monday through Friday but may be open at other hours as campaigns heat up.

Signs are free, but donations are always accepted (and appreciated). We will ask you where you’re planning to put them up.

Polling Results for Statewide Races

The latest polls say:

U.S. Senate:
Peggy Flanagan 42%-Michelle Tafoya 42% (KSTP 9/16)
Peggy Flanagan 49%-Michelle Tafoya 45% (Quantus 9/10)
Governor:
Amy Klobuchar 50%-Lisa Demuth 40% (Republican sponsor) 9/2
Amy Klobuchar 47%-Lisa Demuth 40% (KSTP 9/16)
Attorney General:
Keith Ellison 43%-Ronald Schutz 43% (KSTP August)
Keith Ellison 43%-Ronald Schutz 45% (KSTP 9/16)
Secretary of State:
Steve Simon 40%-Tad Jude 36% (KSTP 9/16)
Auditor:
Zack Filipovich 36%-Scott Jensen 43% (KSTP 9/16)

We don’t have polls for local legislative elections. There are no recent public polls for the Johnson-Finstad election. KSTP polls are thought to have a more Republican sample than would be appropriate.

We Need Volunteers for the DFL Office and for Campaigns

We want to have the DFL office open longer between now and Election Day and so need more volunteers to staff the front desk. We are particularly interested in keeping it staffed from 4-7 PM on weekdays and on weekend afternoons. Front desk volunteers, greet people coming into the office, help people get the signs they want, and answer their questions. They make it possible for campaign staff to work in the office undisturbed. No previous experience is needed. We’ll do any training you need.

Each of our legislative candidates, Jake Johnson, and the DFL Coordinated Campaign also need volunteers, mostly to knock on voters’ doors or to call voters on the phone. Again, no experience is needed and training will be provided.

If you want to help in the office or for campaigns, send your name and contact information to Will Harvey at chair@olmsteddfl.com.

Pre-Primary Fundraising Reports- DFLers Lead in Most Races

The first reports for 2026 for most Minnesota candidates were due at the end of July. Here’s what they show (Raised amounts are for 2026):

Governor
Amy Klobuchar (D)- Raised $9,303,748 Cash on Hand $4,480,911
Lisa Demuth (R)- Raised $550,440 Cash on Hand $456,443

Attorney General
Keith Ellison (D)- Raised $748,131 Cash on Hand $733,951
Ronald Schutz (R)- Raised $387,467 Cash on Hand $407,414

Secretary of State
Steve Simon (D)- Raised $333,845 Cash on Hand $490,967
Tad Jude (R)- Raised $77,075 Cash on Hand $30,491

Auditor
Zack Filipovich (D)- Raised $60,514 Cash on Hand $31,287
Scott Jensen (R)- Raised $109,993 Cash on Hand $60,534

Senate District 20
Jason Lohmann (D)- Raised $25,322 Cash on Hand $11,441
Steve Jacob (R)- Raised $34,851 Cash on Hand $13,500

House District 20B
Steve Holm (D)- $8,698 Cash on Hand $4,245
Sara Bertschinger (R)- $26,889 Cash on Hand $8,593

Senate District 24
Simon Glaser (D)- Raised $39,380 Cash on Hand $60,538
Nels Pierson (R)- Raised $14,438 Cash on Hand $4,242

House District 24A
Heather Holmes (D)- Raised $16,973 Cash on Hand $23,411
Duane Quam (R)- Raised $2600 Cash on Hand $913

House District 24B
Tina Liebling (D)- Raised $12,847 Cash on Hand $36,333
John Ajouri (R)- Raised $9,526 Cash on Hand $3,991

For Federal candidates (Fundraising is 2025-July 22, 2026)
Peggy Flanagan (D)- Raised $6.52 million Cash on Hand $1.06 million
Michele Tafoya (R)- Raised $5.34 million Cash on Hand $1.37 million (but with $300,000 of debts)

Jake Johnson (D)- Raised $2 million Cash on Hand $1.01 million
Brad Finstad (R)- Raised $2.03 million Cash on Hand $1.28 million

September 2026 Newsletter