The Ely area bucked the trend in one race but backed the winners in most of the others on Tuesday, when voters went to the polls for the state primary.
While House Speaker Lisa Demuth scored an upset of sorts, winning the Republican primary for governor, MyPillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell carried Ely, Babbitt and Winton by comfortable margins.
Local voters backed primary winners Peggy Flanagan and Michelle Tafoya in the U.S. Senate contest, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar in the DFL governor primary, and Trina Swanson in the DFL U.S. House primary.
Turnout was higher than usual across the state, with more than 1 million people casting ballots.
Locally, while turnout was nowhere close to the high levels seen for a general election, many voters cast ballots.
Nearly one-third of Ely’s 2,381 voters came out, while in Morse Township, 392 of 1,055 voters came out.
Notable results included: • U.S. Senate - Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor, cruised to a nearly 20-percentage-point win over U.S. Rep. Angie Craig in an expensive primary.
Flanagan carried Ely 343141 and scored a better-thantwo- to-one edge (157-74 and 95-38) in Morse and Fall Lake, respectively. She was also well ahead in Winton, Babbitt and Eagles Nest.
Tafoya, a former television sports broadcaster, easily outpolled party endorsee Adam Schwarze and ran up margins including 119-68 in Ely, 80-30 at Babbitt, and 67-35 in Morse.
Flanagan and Tafoya will square off in November for the seat now held by U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D), who opted against a re-election bid.
• Governor - The state’s governor race will be historic, with two women vying for the post for the first time.
Klobuchar, who has spent 20 years in the U.S. Senate and has Ely family roots, rolled to an easy win in the primary, while the Republican race was a three-way battle.
Demuth surprised some observers with a win by more than 10 percentage points, in contrast to pre-election polls that gave Lindell the edge.
Locally, Demuth and Lindell tied with 60 votes each in Morse, while third-place finisher Kendall Qualls had 33.
In Ely, Lindell won with 117 votes, compared with 101 for Demuth and 49 for Qualls.
It was Lindell by a 10042-28 split in Babbitt, and Lindell also garnered 17-of-26 votes cast in Winton.
The primary was a squeaker in Fall Lake, where Lindell picked up a 33-32, one-vote margin over Demuth, while Qualls collected 22 votes.
• U.S. House - Incumbent U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R) had token opposition and will advance to the general election, where he will face Democrat Trina Swanson.
Swanson, who picked up the party endorsement, had an easy primary victory over Iron Range native and reality TV star Luke Gulbranson of Eveleth.
In Ely, Swanson collected more than 80 percent of the vote and won 369-90, and Eagles Nest voters gave Swanson a 69-5 edge.
It was 164-48 in favor of Swanson in Morse, and 10128 at Fall Lake.
Tuesday’s primary winners advance to the November election and a crowded ballot with not only a slew of state and federal contests, but two hotly contested area legislative races and local contests including:
• A mayoral election in Ely involving incumbent Heidi Omerza and council member Emily Roose;
• A six-way race for three Ely City Council positions with current members Al Forsman and Angela Campbell, former member Mark Zupec, and Josh Brang, Abby Dare and Lacey Squier;
• A potential school referendum that would generate over $325,000 in new revenue for the Ely district with no impact on current tax rates;
• An Ely School Board race with incumbent Jen Westlund, Bailey Belehar, John Kannas, Derekah Kingery, Steve Hornstein and Joe Weise.
