Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primary)
- Primary date: Aug. 11
- Primary type: Open
- Registration deadline(s): July 21
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Early voting starts: Varies locally
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Aug. 11 (postmarked); Aug. 13 (received)
- Voter ID: No ID
- Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
2022 →
← 2018
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| Minnesota's 8th Congressional District |
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 |
| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: June 2, 2020 |
| Primary: August 11, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Pete Stauber (Republican) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Minnesota |
| Race ratings |
Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| See also |
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th Minnesota elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 |
A Democratic Party primary took place on August 11, 2020, in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.
Quinn Nystrom advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent was Pete Stauber (Republican), who was first elected in 2018.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Minnesota utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[1][2][3]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Minnesota's 8th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Republican primary)
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
Minnesota modified its primary election process as follows:
- Voting procedures: The absentee/mail-in ballot postmark deadline was extended to August 11 and the receipt deadline was extended to August 13. The witness requirement for absentee/mail-in ballots was suspended.
- Political party events: The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota opted to conduct all local and district-level conventions online. The Republican Party of Minnesota also opted to conduct all local party conventions online.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Quinn Nystrom | 100.0 | 46,050 |
| Total votes: 46,050 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+4, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 4 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Minnesota's 8th Congressional District the 199th most Republican nationally.[4]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.10. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.10 points toward that party.[5]
Campaign finance
This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[6] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[7] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quinn Nystrom | Democratic Party | $1,560,764 | $1,557,164 | $3,600 | As of December 31, 2020 |
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Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[8]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[9][10][11]
| Race ratings: Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 | |||||||||
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| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 20, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season. | |||||||||
See also
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Republican primary)
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2020
- United States House elections in Minnesota, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Minnesota, 2020 (August 11 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ NCSL,"State Primary Election Types," accessed April 25, 2023
- ↑ Ballotpedia research conducted December 26, 2013, through January 3, 2014, researching and analyzing various state websites and codes.
- ↑ Minnesota Secretary of State,"PRIMARY ELECTION," accessed April 25, 2023
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
