5th district delegates today chose State Representative Kieth Ellison as the recipient of the DFL(Democratic) party endorsement. He'll be running for the seat left open by the retiring Martin Sabo.
Also, up north former Senator Rod Grams(R) announced that he's running against Jim Oberstar for the 8th district.
In MN-06, State Rep. Michelle Bachman received the GOP endorsement to try to hold onto the seat vacated by Mark Kennedy.
More below.
MN-05
It took three ballots to choose Kieth Ellison as the endorsee, but not without some controversy.
Former DFL State Party Chair Mike Erlandson, who was endorsed this week by Sabo, shook up the convention and dropped out of the race for the endorsement after the first ballot, saying he planned to run in the September primary. He said he made up his mind to seek election in the primary because the crowd heckled him during his speech.
Other candidates have promised to run in the primary as well, including Ember Richgott Junge, Minnapolis City Councilman Paul Ostrow, and Minneapolis Park Board member Jon Olsen.
The GOP endorsement went to Alan Fine.
MN-06
In what was the least surprising move for me, the GOP endorssed State Senator Michele Bachmann to run for the seat vacated by Senate hopeful Mark Kennedy. For those of you unfamiliar, here is how she is described in the article linked above.
Bachmann described herself as "a woman on a mission," for lower taxes, for an end to abortions, for gun rights, for veterans benefits, for oil-drilling, for road-building and against U.N. control over U.S. actions in the world.
If nominated, she said, she would offer voters "a clear choice" of a "vision of freedom" as opposed to Democrats, whom she described as having a "philosophy of economic central planning" that could lead to "totalitarianism." The word "totalitarianism" was a quote from a Ronald Reagan speech of the 1960s, Bachmann said.
Missing from this description is her crusade against gay marriage/gay rights. Anyone else find her use of "totalitarianism" more than a little ironic?
The convention to endorse Patty Wetterling or Elwyn Tinklenberg as the DFL nominee will take place next Saturday.
MN-08
In bigger news, former Senator Rod Grams (who lost to Mark Dayton only after his son got busted for possession) received the GOP nomination for the 8th District. He'll be competing against 16-term incumbant Jim Oberstar, who routinely gets 60% of the vote. However, this may be the first time he's running against someone who can say they're bringing just as much experience as he is, and may make this race one to keep an eye on to see how it polls out.
Just to avoid confusion, each district links to the article I took information from.
Update [2006-5-8 18:22:33 by guyermo]:I can update on a couple more districts thanks to comments provided below, MN-03 and MN-02.
In the 2nd district, former FBI agent and whistleblower Coleen Rowley received the DFL nomination. (thanks to mnsotn)
In the 3rd district, Wendy Wilde received the nomination to run against Jim Ramstad. (thanks to Sharpner)