Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey
Kirsten Hagen Kennedy
Kirsten Hagen Kennedy (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Minnesota's 8th Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on August 14, 2018.
Five Democratic candidates competed for the toss-up open seat in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District. No candidate received an endorsement from the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party at its multi-ballot nominating convention in April and incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan (D) did not seek re-election.
This district was seen as critical for the party to retake control of the U.S. House. Although represented by a Democrat in 2016, the district flipped from supporting Barack Obama by 6 points to backing Donald Trump by 15 points in the presidential election that year.[1][2]
- Click here to learn more about the August 14, 2018, Democratic Party primary.
- Click here to learn more about the November 6, 2018, general election.
Elections
2018
General election
General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 8
Pete Stauber defeated Joe Radinovich and Ray Sandman in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 8 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Pete Stauber (R) | 50.7 | 159,364 |
 | Joe Radinovich (D) | 45.2 | 141,950 | |
 | Ray Sandman (Independence Party) | 4.1 | 12,741 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 156 | ||
| Total votes: 314,211 (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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8
Joe Radinovich defeated Michelle Lee, Jason Metsa, Kirsten Hagen Kennedy, and Soren Christian Sorensen in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8 on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joe Radinovich | 44.1 | 30,732 |
 | Michelle Lee | 27.5 | 19,182 | |
 | Jason Metsa | 13.2 | 9,229 | |
 | Kirsten Hagen Kennedy | 11.7 | 8,133 | |
 | Soren Christian Sorensen | 3.5 | 2,415 | |
| Total votes: 69,691 | |||
| = 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
- Leah Phifer (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8
Pete Stauber defeated Harry Welty in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 8 on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Pete Stauber | 90.0 | 45,391 |
 | Harry Welty | 10.0 | 5,047 | |
| Total votes: 50,438 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia tracks endorsements by organizations and elected officials. We have located the following endorsements in this race. To notify us of other endorsements, please email us.
| Democratic primary election endorsements | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endorsement | Kennedy | Lee | Metsa | Radinovich |
| Federal officials | ||||
| Rep. Rick Nolan (D)[3] | ✔ | |||
| State officials | ||||
| Lieutenant Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon (D)[4] | ✔ | |||
| Former state Rep. Jeremy Kalin (D)[5] | ✔ | |||
| Minnesota Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk (D)[6] | ✔ | |||
| Organizations | ||||
| American Federation of Government Employees [7] | ✔ | |||
| United Steelworkers[8] | ✔ | |||
| Boilermakers Local 647[6] | ✔ | |||
| FCW Local 1189[6] | ✔ | |||
Campaign finance
The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted by candidates for Minnesota's 8th Congressional District to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirsten Hagen Kennedy | Democratic Party | $21,443 | $15,716 | $5,165 | As of September 30, 2018 |
| Michelle Lee | Democratic Party | $64,189 | $65,689 | $0 | As of December 31, 2018 |
| Jason Metsa | Democratic Party | $286,672 | $286,473 | $199 | As of October 15, 2018 |
| Joe Radinovich | Democratic Party | $2,432,207 | $2,390,503 | $41,704 | As of December 31, 2018 |
| Soren Christian Sorensen | Democratic Party | $610 | $536 | $74 | As of June 30, 2018 |
| Pete Stauber | Republican Party | $1,777,703 | $1,759,367 | $18,336 | As of December 31, 2018 |
| Harry Welty | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Ray Sandman | Independence Party | $20,291 | $21,694 | $0 | As of December 31, 2018 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. 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." |
|||||
Mining and environmental policy
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates participated in a candidate forum on April 4, 2018, where they offered differing opinions on the interests of pro-union miners and environmentalists:[9]
- Kennedy noted that not mining in Minnesota would result in importing those materials from third-world countries where fewer worker protections exist. "We want to move toward a green economy; we want to use technology. To move us there we need minerals and the minerals we are looking for are found in Minnesota on the Iron Range," she said.
- Lee said, "I support iron ore mining and unions. I am not convinced we can do copper-nickel mining in a water-rich environment."
- Metsa said experts involved in the permitting process should be trusted. "When it comes to our projects, we need to support our state employees and public servants and they have recommended that these things can move forward. ... Their work is essentially what they have spent their fields and entire careers learning expertise in. We need to trust [their judgment]," he said.
- Phifer said, "Copper-nickel mining is what we're discussing here today. ... The PolyMet/Twin Metals copper-nickel type of mining has never been done in Minnesota and it is very, very different and it is very, very risky in a water-rich environment like we have here." She added that she would likely be uncomfortable with such a project, regardless of whether companies prepared for cleanup activities.
- According to the Duluth News Tribune, Radinovich "seemed to agree with precious-metals mining in northern Minnesota, calling for transparency and high standards that he said could 'assure proper closure after the life of the project.'"
Polls
| Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, Democratic primary | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll |  Radinovich |
Lee | Metsa | Kennedy | Other/Undecided | Margin of Error | Sample Size | ||||||||||||
| Victoria Research May 12-17, 2018 | 17% | 16% | 9% | 6% | 52% | +/-4.9 | 400 | ||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
See also
- United States House of Representatives
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District election, 2018
- Minnesota's 8th Congressional District
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections Live Digest: 6/8," June 8, 2018
- ↑ Politico, "Minnesota Rep. Nolan won't run for reelection," February 9, 2018
- ↑ Twitter, "Joe Radinovich," April 14, 2018
- ↑ FOX 21 News, "8th District Congressional Candidate Michelle Lee Announces Large Endorsement," March 30, 2018
- ↑ Vote Kirsten, "Endorsements," accessed July 3, 2018
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jason Metsa for Congress, "Home," accessed July 3, 2018
- ↑ PR Newswire, "AFGE Endorses Minnesota's Joe Radinovich for Congress," April 13, 2018
- ↑ PR Newswire, "Steelworkers Endorse Jason Metsa for Congress in Minnesota's Eighth District," March 26, 2018
- ↑ Duluth News Tribune, "Mining separates 8th DFL candidates," April 4, 2018
