With their relevance on the line, can Minnesota Republicans stop fighting each other? – By Ryan Faircloth and Briana Bierschbach (Star Tribune) / Jan 13, 2024
Seeking to win back control of the state House in November, Republicans are trying to unite the party’s warring factions.
Even when control of the Legislature was at stake, Minnesota Republicans could not stop fighting each other.
In a critical east-metro state Senate race, GOP voters chose anti-establishment conservative Tom Dippel to represent them over more moderate Republican Tony Jurgens. Stung by his primary election loss, Jurgens did the unthinkable: He endorsed Dippel’s Democratic opponent, Judy Seeberger, who went on to defeat the Republican in the 2022 general election by just a few hundred votes.
That race gave Democrats a one-seat majority in the Senate and full control of state government, which the DFL used last year to pass a slate of progressive policies and the largest state budget in history.
Some Republicans blamed Jurgens’ unprecedented endorsement for Dippel’s loss, while others said GOP activists shouldn’t have backed a hardline conservative in a suburban swing district. David Hann, chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, came to a different conclusion: The bitter intraparty feud turned some voters off.
