ST. PAUL, Minn. - President Donald Trump is congratulating a couple of Minnesota GOP nominees after Tuesday's 2018 primary.
Trump tweeted out his support for Jeff Johnson, who defeated former Gov. Tim Pawlenty to become the Republican nominee for governor; and for Pete Stauber, who won the GOP primary for the northeastern Minnesota congressional seat being vacated by Democrat Rick Nolan.
Stauber, a St. Louis County Commissioner and retired Duluth police officer, defeated former Duluth School Board member Harry Robb Welty on Tuesday to advance to a general election contest that's seen as one of the Republicans' best chances anywhere in the country of picking up a House seat now held by a Democrat.
The 8th District was once a Democratic stronghold but has evolved into a swing district.
Stauber's campaign got a boost from visits in June by President Donald Trump and last week by Vice President Mike Pence. Trump carried the district by 15 percentage points in 2016.
The other nominee who earned a tweet from the president was County Commissioner Jeff Johnson. He beat former Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Minnesota's Republican primary for governor, derailing Pawlenty's bid to reclaim his old job.
Johnson won Tuesday despite Pawlenty's enormous fundraising and name recognition advantages. He also won despite his own history as the party's losing candidate for governor four years ago.
Johnson positioned himself as a more conservative candidate than Pawlenty. He branded the former two-term governor as part of the "status quo" and bashed him for calling Trump "unhinged and unfit for the presidency" in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.
Pawlenty was hoping to resurrect his political career after flaming out as a presidential candidate in 2011. He spent the intervening years as a Washington lobbyist.
On the Democratic side of the gubernatorial equation, Rep. Tim Walz won a three-way primary for Minnesota governor.
Walz leveraged his rural Minnesota connections and a geographically balanced ticket to defeat state Rep. Erin Murphy and Attorney General Lori Swanson in Tuesday's primary. Walz is leaving Congress after six terms representing southwestern Minnesota.
Walz's outstate appeal and pedigree as a former teacher and a National Guard veteran had long made him a favorite among Democrats trying to hang on to the office as two-term Gov. Mark Dayton retires.
But he lost the party's endorsement in June to Murphy and shook up his campaign soon afterward.
In the race for Attorney General, outgoing U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison overcame accusations of domestic abuse to win the nod from Democratic voters.
Ellison defeated four other candidates to win Tuesday's primary days after a former girlfriend accused him of domestic abuse. Ellison denied the allegation.
Ellison decided to give up his safe Minneapolis-area seat to try for attorney general when incumbent Lori Swanson ran for governor. He said it was a chance to make a difference in pushing back against some of President Donald Trump's policies that he says are hurting people.
In 2006, Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress. He is also vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Republicans haven't held the Minnesota attorney general seat for more than half a century.
Jennifer Zielinski has won a three-way Republican primary for the Minnesota seat in Congress being vacated by Keith Ellison.
The 35-year-old Zielinski had the GOP endorsement over two little-known rivals. She is a business services worker for Allina Health who hasn't held elected office before.
The Minneapolis-area seat is so reliably liberal that a Republican hasn't held it since 1960. Zielinski will face state Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Democratic winner.
Omar, the nation's first Somali-American legislator, won a crowded Democratic primary to replace Rep. Keith Ellison in Congress.
Omar's victory Tuesday all but ensures she'll set another historic mark as the first Somali-American in Congress. Minnesota's 5th Congressional District includes Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs that tilt heavily Democratic.
Omar positioned herself as the best-equipped to counter President Donald Trump's administration. She rose to national prominence after winning her legislative seat in 2016.
The first-term lawmaker defeated former state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray and others.
Ellison triggered a scramble for the seat when he filed a last-minute run for Minnesota attorney general.
There was little drama on the Democratic side in choosing the candidates for both U.S. Senate seats. Sen. Tina Smith won Minnesota's Democratic primary to finish the final two years of former Sen. Al Franken's term.
Smith took her spot in the Senate in January after Franken resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. She was the state's lieutenant governor before Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed her to the seat.
She defeated several Democrats to clinch the party's nomination, including Richard Painter, the former GOP ethics attorney whose profile rose as a strident critic of President Donald Trump.
Smith is a longtime political operative in Minnesota.
Incumbent Amy Klobuchar seems bullet proof, again becoming the first DFLer to be declared a winner. She will face Minnesota state Rep. Jim Newberger, who was the choice of GOP voters.
Newberger beat three other candidates Tuesday but faces an uphill battle in November against the popular Klobuchar, who is seeking a third term in the Senate. Klobuchar easily won her primary.
Klobuchar won her first two terms by at least 20 percentage points and has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2020.
Newberger, a paramedic from Becker, has served three terms in the Minnesota House.