These Minnesota Senate candidates raised the most money and lost their primary

General elections for all 67 seats in the Minnesota State Senate will take place on Nov. 8, 2022. State senatorial primary elections were held on Aug. 9, 2022.

This article details the five candidates in each party who raised the most money and lost their primary election. In the 2022 election cycle, 17 of 61 Republican primaries and 12 of 64 Democratic primaries were contested. The losing candidates are shown along with the percentage of the vote they received compared to the primary winner. In cases where the race was pushed to a runoff, vote percentages for both advancing candidates are included.

Top fundraisers with unsuccessful primary campaigns this cycle

This information comes from candidate reports to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board covering the period of Jan. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2022.

The Democratic candidates who raised the most money and lost their primary were:

• Justin Emmerich – $34,608 – District 56 (Lost primary 35% – 65%)
• Sheigh Freeberg – $27,799 – District 65 (Lost primary 23% – 66%)
• Shaun Laden – $21,963 – District 62 (Lost primary 39% – 61%)
• Huldah Hiltsley – $11,150 – District 38 (Lost primary 38% – 62%)
• Nancy Livingston – $10,625 – District 44 (Lost primary 27% – 48%)

The Republican candidates who raised the most money and lost their primary were:

• Steve Wenzel – $45,821 – District 10 (Lost primary 32% – 37%)
• Tony Jurgens – $31,887 – District 41 (Lost primary 39% – 61%)
• Kelsey Johnson – $16,491 – District 3 (Lost primary 31% – 69%)
• Jake Cordes – $12,044 – District 58 (Lost primary 38% – 62%)
• Bret Bussman – $8,670 – District 5 (Lost primary 32% – 57%)

Top fundraisers with unsuccessful primary campaigns last cycle

This information comes from candidate reports to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board covering the period of Jan. 1, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2020.

The Democratic candidates who raised the most money and lost their primary in 2020 were:

• Jeff Hayden – $62,317 – District 62 (Lost primary 45% – 55%)
• Erik Simonson – $47,116 – District 7 (Lost primary 26% – 74%)
• Kevin Shea – $20,814 – District 56 (Lost primary 28% – 67%)
• Suleiman Isse – $14,081 – District 59 (Lost primary 23% – 77%)
• Richard Tucker – $7,470 – District 56 (Lost primary 6% – 67%)

The Republican candidates who raised the most money and lost their primary in 2020 were:

• Thomas Funk – $53,362 – District 47 (Lost primary 36% – 64%)
• Jenny Rhoades – – District 49 (Lost primary 37% – 63%)
• Richard Dahl – $0 – District 9 (Lost primary 17% – 83%)
• Shaun Christian Hansen – $0 – District 10 (Lost primary 18% – 82%)

The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Minnesota PACs submitted to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Federal PACs are not required to report to state agencies. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines. State or federal law may require filers to submit additional reports.

This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.