Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Republican primary)

	2026 → ← 2022
Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: June 4, 2024
	Primary: August 13, 2024; General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in Minnesota
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Likely Democratic; DDHQ and The Hill: Likely Democratic; Inside Elections: Likely Democratic; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th; Minnesota elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Minnesota 2024 elections

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Joe Teirab (R) is the only candidate who ran in the Republican primary for Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District on August 13, 2024. He faced incumbent U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D) in the November general election.

Tayler Rahm (R) also ran in the primary but dropped out in July. Rahm said he suspended his campaign to serve as a senior advisor to former President Donald Trump's (R) campaign in Minnesota. Rahm said, “In my opinion, there is nothing more important for this district than getting Biden or a Democrat replacement out of power and getting Donald Trump back in the White House. Therefore, I will suspend my campaign operations and focus on doing everything possible to save our country.”^[1]

Before Rahm dropped out of the race, Minnesota’s 2nd District Republican Party endorsed Rahm at the party's convention.^[2] Speaker of the U.S. House Mike Johnson (R) endorsed Teirab.^[3]

Rahm and Teirab criticized each others' professional records at a January debate. According to Michelle Griffith of the Minnesota Reformer, "Teirab criticized Rahm for being a public defender who represented people charged with crimes, while he was on the side of fighting for the conviction of alleged criminals. Rahm fired back and said that while Teirab was a district attorney, he cut plea deals with those same alleged criminals. Teirab closed the rebuttal by saying everyone has a right to criminal defense, but a defense attorney shouldn’t be the person to challenge Craig on her public safety record."^[4]

Rahm received a bachelor's degree from the University of St. Thomas and a J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law. Rahm worked as an attorney.^[5] Rahm described himself as a political outsider and said he would reduce the size and cost of the federal government.^[6] Rahm said, "Meeting people in the middle of anti-American ideas doesn’t make you bipartisan, it makes you weak. Now is not the time to be weak, now is the time to fight and that fight starts right here in 2024 when I defeat Angie Craig."^[4] Rahm also says he would work to increase arrest rates for criminals, limit illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, promote school choice, lower healthcare costs, and end the United States' involvement in wars.

Teirab received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Teirab served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney, assistant county attorney in Nicollet County, and teacher at Copper Mountain College.^[7] Teirab said he ran because he believed Democrats are ruining the American dream. Teirab said, "Angie Craig is a rubber stamp for Joe Biden's radical spending agenda that’s made life unaffordable for everyday middle-class Minnesotans like you and me…And just like every federal criminal trial that I was a part of, I will win that fight because this country, our country, is worth fighting for."^[4] Teirab also says he would work to increase accountability for criminals, reduce inflation and the size of the federal government, reduce immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, and increase parents' roles in education.^[8]

As of July 16, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball rated the district Lean Democratic, and Decision Desk HQ and The Hill, rated the district Likely Democratic.

This is one of 15 elections across the country in which Speaker of the U.S. House Mike Johnson endorsed a Republican candidate in a primary race. Twelve endorsees have advanced from their primaries. One endorsee withdrew. Three of these races have not occurred. To see a full list of these endorsements click here.

This page focuses on Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2

Joe Teirab defeated Tayler Rahm (Unofficially withdrew) in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2 on August 13, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Joe Teirab	76.0	16,748
	Tayler Rahm (Unofficially withdrew)	24.0	5,290

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 22,038
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Mike Murphy (R)

Voting information

See also: Voting in Minnesota

Election information in Minnesota: Aug. 13, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Aug. 13, 2024
By mail: Received by July 23, 2024
Online: July 23, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: N/A
By mail: Received by Aug. 12, 2024
Online: Aug. 12, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Aug. 13, 2024
By mail: Received by Aug. 13, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

June 28, 2024 to Aug. 12, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (CST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Joe Teirab

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography: Teirab received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Teirab's served in the United States Marine Corps and worked as an assistant United States attorney, assistant county attorney in Nicollet County, and teacher at Copper Mountain College.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

On public safety, Teirab said, "It is one of the principal roles of elected officials to look out for the public safety and well-being of their constituents. Right now, Democrats in Minnesota are failing at that job. They’re more concerned with coddling criminals than keeping our streets safe. I will always support law enforcement and ensure that criminals are held accountable."

On the economy, Teirab campaign website said he supported policies he believed would help grow the economy and reduce the national deficit. Teirab said, "I will fight to bring power back to your paycheck by rolling back taxes, slashing reckless spending, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse."

On immigration, Teirab said, "Millions of illegal migrants and thousands of pounds of deadly fentanyl are pouring into our country, while the Open Border policies of Joe Biden and Angie Craig have only fueled cartels and human trafficking. As the son of a legal immigrant, I know that we must get this broken system under control. I will always fight for a secure border to ensure that we finally restore Law and Order."

Show sources

Sources: Joe Teirab for Congress, "Issues," accessed July 8, 2024; Joe Teirab for Congress, "Meet Joe," accessed July 8, 2024;Linkedin, "Joe Teirab," accessed July 8, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Minnesota District 2 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign ads

Tayler Rahm

June 20, 2024

June 12, 2024

Joe Teirab

May 21, 2024

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

Race ratings

Race ratings: Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Likely Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic	Likely Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Likely Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Election spending

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[9] 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.^[10] Click here to view the reporting schedule for candidates for U.S. Congress in 2022.

U.S. Congress campaign reporting schedule, 2022
Report	Close of books	Filing deadline
Year-end 2021	12/31/2021	1/31/2022
April quarterly	3/31/2022	4/15/2022
July quarterly	6/30/2022	7/15/2022
October quarterly	9/30/2022	10/15/2022
Pre-general	10/19/2022	10/27/2022
Post-general	11/28/2022	12/08/2022
Year-end 2022	12/31/2022	1/31/2023

Name

Party

Receipts*

Disbursements**

Cash on hand

Date

Tayler Rahm

Republican Party

$0

Data not available***

Joe Teirab

Republican Party

$3,304,666

$3,284,981

$19,685

As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. 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."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[11]^[12]

If available, satellite spending reports by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org are linked below. FEC links include totals from monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports. OpenSecrets.org compiles data from those reports as well as 24- and 48-hour reports from the FEC.^[13]

Details about satellite spending of significant amounts and/or reported by media are included below those links. The amounts listed may not represent the total satellite spending in the election. To notify us of additional satellite spending, email us.

By candidate	By election
Tayler Rahm Joe Teirab	Open Secrets Federal Election Commission

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Minnesota.

Minnesota U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	8	8	1	29	16	4	6	62.5%	6	85.7%
2022	8	8	1	32	16	5	4	56.3%	4	50.0%
2020	8	8	0	37	16	4	6	62.5%	6	75.0%
2018	8	8	3	38	16	5	5	62.5%	2	40.0%
2016	8	8	1	30	16	3	5	50.0%	3	42.9%
2014	8	8	1	19	16	1	2	18.8%	0	0.0%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Minnesota in 2024. Information below was calculated on July 10, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Twenty-nine candidates ran for Minnesota’s eight U.S. House districts, including 14 Democrats and 15 Republicans. That’s an average of 3.63 candidates per district. There were 4.00 candidates per district in 2022, 4.63 candidates per district in 2020 and 4.75 in 2018.

The 29 candidates who ran in Minnesota in 2024 are the fewest number of candidates since 2014, when 19 candidates ran.

The 3rd Congressional District was the only open district in Minnesota in 2024. Incumbent Rep. Dean Phillips (D-03) did not run for re-election to run for President of the United States.

Five candidates—four Democrats and one Republican—ran for the 5th Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a district in Minnesota in 2024.

Ten primaries—four Democratic and six Republican—were contested in 2024. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 8.00 primaries were contested each election cycle.

Six incumbents—two Democrats and four Republicans—ran in contested primaries in 2024, tying with 2020 for the most in the last 10 years.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all districts, meaning no seats were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+1. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 1 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Minnesota's 2nd the 207th most Democratic district nationally.^[14]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Minnesota's 2nd based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
52.5%	45.4%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[15] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
50.3	45.3	R+5.0

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Minnesota, 2020

Minnesota presidential election results (1900-2020)

20 Democratic wins
10 Republican wins
1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	P^[16]	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

See also: Party control of Minnesota state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Minnesota's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Minnesota
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	4	6
Republican	0	4	4
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	8	10

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Minnesota's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Minnesota, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Tim Walz
Lieutenant Governor	Peggy Flanagan
Secretary of State	Steve Simon
Attorney General	Keith Ellison

State legislature

Minnesota State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	34
	Republican Party	33
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		67

Minnesota House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	70
	Republican Party	60
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	1
Total		134

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Minnesota Party Control: 1992-2024
Four years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D

Election context

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Minnesota in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Minnesota, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Minnesota	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party^[17]	1,000	$300.00	6/4/2024	Source
Minnesota	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	1,000	N/A	6/4/2024	Source

District election history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.

2022

See also: Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 2

Incumbent Angie Craig defeated Tyler Kistner and Paula Overby (Unofficially withdrew) in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 2 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Angie Craig (D)	50.9	165,583
	Tyler Kistner (R)	45.6	148,576
	Paula Overby (Legal Marijuana Now Party) (Unofficially withdrew)	3.3	10,728
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	585

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 325,472
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Angie Craig advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 2.