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2022 Minnesota Primary Election Live Coverage [1]
['Minnesota Reformer', 'J. Patrick Coolican', 'Deena Winter', 'Michelle Griffith', 'Max Nesterak', 'Baylor Spears', 'More From Author', '- August']
Date: 2022-08-09
Hennepin County attorney candidate Martha Holton Dimick, Congressional candidate Don Samuels and Hennepin County Sheriff candidate Dawanna Witt eat breakfast together at a campaign event at Good Day Cafe in Golden Valley on Aug. 9, 2022. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.
Minneapolis and suburbs vote in decisive congressional primary
DFL voters in Minneapolis and its inner-ring suburbs headed to the polls Tuesday to choose who will likely represent the deep blue 5th Congressional District in the next Congress: two-term incumbent Rep. Ilhan Omar or former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels.
Hennepin County voters also cast ballots to pick the top two candidates to advance to the general election in the most competitive race for county attorney in a generation.
Samuels, who sued the city of Minneapolis to add more police officers, allied his campaign with that of Hennepin County attorney candidate Martha Holton Dimick, a judge and former prosecutor.
The pair offer a vision that contrasts sharply with the progressive agenda of the DFL-endorsed ticket: Omar and Mary Moriarty, former chief public defender in Hennepin County.
Yet voters didn’t always accept Samuels and Dimock as a package.
Less than a mile away from where Samuels and Dimick held a joint breakfast event in Golden Valley, Bill Murtaugh, 77, split his primary ballot — voting for Samuels for Congress and Mary Moriarty for Hennepin County attorney.
“Diversity is good,” Murtaugh said. “I’ve been following Mary Moriarty’s career for a long time so I know her better.”
Murtaugh said he chose Samuels over incumbent Omar because he thinks Samuels will be able to work across the aisle with Republicans.
“Omar has had two terms and she’s kind of a firebrand … I see Don Samuels as more of a uniter,” Murtaugh said.
While turnout appeared underwhelming in Minneapolis, voters came to the polls in surprising numbers in Golden Valley.
Sue Schwalbe, deputy city clerk for Golden Valley, said she had visited every precinct Tuesday morning and everyone was reporting higher-than-normal turnout.
“I’m very happy about that,” Schwalbe said.
Christy Corzine, 61, voted for Samuels at her Golden Valley polling place, saying the district needs a change.
“I think we need someone who represents a broader segment of the Democratic party,” Corzine said. “I think (Omar) is a little out of touch.”
She said she also voted for Rep. Ryan Winkler, whom she’s supported for years as her representative in the Legislature.
Omar will likely fair best in south Minneapolis.
Annie Sparrows, a small business owner in Minneapolis, voted for Omar because she likes how the “Republicans are so scared of her.”
“It seems like they’re working very hard to make sure she doesn’t make it back into Congress,” Sparrows said. She feels Omar has done good work in Congress and would like to see her continue.
Sparrows, who has lived in Minneapolis since 1996, said crime in the city has become a concern for her. It’s comparable to how she felt in the ‘90s, when violent crime reached steep levels in big cities nationwide.
Sparrows likes her home in the Bancroft neighborhood of Minneapolis, but she said things have started to feel unsteady.
“I feel like it’s a bit out of control, and that’s what freaks me out,” she said, adding that her friend was carjacked last week.
Loralee Prescott, 54, also voiced her concern about crime after voting with her two daughters in the Powderhorn neighborhood of south Minneapolis.
But Prescott, a human services worker for Ramsey County, said she voted for Samuels over Omar because she thinks the two-term congresswoman has lost touch with her district.
“I don’t see her paying very much attention to what is happening in our state,” Prescott said.
Prescott said she paid close attention to the Hennepin County sheriff’s race and voted for Dawanna Witt.
“Policing is important because everyone here wants to have a safe city,” Prescott said. “People are running amok with all the shootings … You don’t even feel safe walking around the city anymore.”
Prescott says she wants to see police reform, too, and hopes a change at the top will improve law enforcement. She thinks officers need more resources and training to deal with mental health crises and diverse cultural communities.
Republicans in the 5th District came out to decide who will face off against the winner of the DFL primary, while also choosing a candidate in a more winnable statewide race for attorney general.
Retired shipping clerk Missy Nelson bucked the GOP endorsements for attorney general and congress, choosing Doug Wardlow over Jim Schultz. The winner will face DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison.
“I try to find whichever one best suits what I believe,” Nelson said outside her Golden Valley polling place.
Top among her concerns is what she sees as Americans losing their freedom, pointing to the recent F.B.I. search of Donald Trump’s Florida residence.
“We’re losing our freedom,” Nelson said. “I mean if they can go in there and just break into Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and just walk in there and grab whatever they want, who’s to say they can’t do it us, too? That’s losing our rights.”
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