(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



The DFL primary for Rep. Melissa Hortman’s seat is Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know. • Minnesota Reformer [1]

['Michelle Griffith', 'Izzy Wagener', 'J. Patrick Coolican', 'More From Author', '- August', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar']

Date: 2025-08

The Democratic primary to replace late Rep. Melissa Hortman is Tuesday.

Voters in House District 34B, which covers parts of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids, will decide which of three Democratic candidates will face Republican Ruth Bittner in the general election on Sept. 16.

Hortman, who served as House speaker from 2019 to 2024, and her husband, Mark, were killed two months ago in a political assassination.

Hortman first ran for office in 1998 and 2002 but didn’t win the former swing district until 2004. The district has since become strongly Democratic, with Hortman winning last year’s election by 26 percentage points. Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by 27 percentage points.

Here’s how to find out if you live in the district. Minnesota has same-day voter registration, so if you live in the district, you just need to show up with a proof of residence. Acceptable forms can be found here.

The three Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates running in the primary Tuesday are Xp Lee, Christian Eriksen and Erickson Saye.

Lee, the DFL-endorsed candidate, is a health equity strategist for the Minnesota Department of Health. He served on the Brooklyn Park City Council from 2022 to 2024.

Eriksen is also a Brooklyn Park City Council member — first elected in 2022 — and is a former chair of the city’s Human Rights Commission.

Saye is a Hennepin County prosecutor who worked as the lead DFL organizer in the 3rd Congressional District in 2018. Saye also worked in the Walz administration on constituent services and veteran affairs and served as the policy director of Minnesota Voice, a nonprofit focused on voter engagement.

Bittner, the sole Republican in the race, currently works as a real estate agent. She has never held public office, and she was formerly a food scientist.

There are three empty seats in the Minnesota Legislature following the resignation of Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, and the death of Sen. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo.

DFL House Reps. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger and Ethan Cha are running as candidates to replace Mitchell. If one of them wins, Gov. Tim Walz will need to call yet another special election to fill the empty House seat.

Voters in the two Senate districts will go to the polls on Nov. 4 to replace the senators.

Republicans in the Minnesota House currently hold a 67-66 advantage because of Hortman’s death, though it’s moot while the Legislature is out of session.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/the-dfl-primary-for-rep-melissa-hortmans-seat-is-tuesday-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

Published and (C) by Minnesota Reformer
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/MnReformer/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.