A primary election determines which candidates will be on the ballot in the November general election.
For example, five candidates from one political party might run for governor. Only one candidate can be on the ballot in November. The winner of the August primary election will represent their party on the November election ballot.
There may be two kinds of offices on your primary ballot: partisan offices and nonpartisan offices.
Partisan offices
Partisan offices will list a political party next to a candidate’s name on the ballot. All state and federal offices — such as U.S. representative or Minnesota senator — are partisan offices.
Partisan candidates will be listed in two columns on the front side of the primary ballot. One column will list the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidates. The other column will list the Republican Party candidates.
You can only vote for candidates from one political party. For instance, if you vote for Democrats Walz/Flanagan for Governor/Lieutenant Governor, you must vote for Democratic candidates on the rest of your ballot. If you vote for candidates from both political parties, your vote will not count.
Nonpartisan offices
Nonpartisan offices will not list a political party next to a can- didate’s name on the ballot. For example, county, city, town- ship, and school board offices are nonpartisan. Nonpartisan offices will be listed on the back side of the primary ballot. You can vote for any candidate. The candidates who get the most votes will be on the November general election ballot.
Your ballot
See below for information about the primary races on your bal- lot. The "Statewide" box shows races that will be on all ballots. The other boxes show races unique to each district.
Statewide
Governor/Lieutenant Governor
Democrats: Walz/Flanagan, Murphy/Quade, Swanson/Nolan, Savior/Edman
Republicans: Kruse/Loeffler, Johnson/Bergstrom, Pawlenty/Fischbach
Attorney General
Democrats: Keith Ellison, Tom Foley, Matt Pelikan, Mike Rothman
Republicans: Doug Wardlow, Robert Lessard, Sharon Anderson
U.S. Senate
Democrats: Amy Klobuchar (incumbent), Steve Carlson, Stephen Emery, David Groves, Leonard Richards
Republicans: Roque De La Fuente, Rae Hart Anderson, Jim Newberger, Merrill Anderson
U.S. Senate Special Election
Democrats: Tina Smith (incumbent), Christopher Seymore, Gregg Iverson, Nick Leonard, Richard Painter, Ali Ali
Republicans: Nikolay Bey, Bob Anderson, Karin Housley
District I and IIa
US Representative District 8
Democrats: Joe Radinovich, Jason Metsa, Soren Sorensen, Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee
Republicans: Harry Welty, Pete Stauber
County Attorney (non-partisan)
Richard Osburn, Jan Jude, Joe Walsh
District II
County Commissioner District 3 (non-partisan)
Donald Niemi, Todd Johnson, Robert Marcum.
US Representative District 8
Democrats: Joe Radinovich, Jason Metsa, Soren Sorensen, Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee
Republicans: Harry Welty, Pete Stauber
District III
US Representative District 8
Democrats: Joe Radinovich, Jason Metsa, Soren Sorensen, Kirsten Kennedy, Michelle Lee
Republicans: Harry Welty, Pete Stauber
There are no primaries in other races in Hinckley or Aazhoomog (Lake Lena)
Urban Area
US Representative District 5 (Minneapolis)
Democrats: Patricia Torres Ray, Frank Drake,
Margaret Kelliher, Ilhan Omar, Jamal Abdulahi
Republicans: Bob Carney, Jennifer Zielinski, Christopher Chamberlin
US Representative District 4 (St. Paul)
Democrats: Betty McCollum (incumbent), Muad
Hassan, Reid Rossell
Republicans: Greg Ryan
There are too many other primaries in the Twin Cities to list for county commissioner, state representative, school board, judge, city council, and other offices, so please go to myballotmn.sos. state.mn.us and type in your zip code and address to view your sample ballot.