Michele Tafoya, a former television sports reporter, is the winner of the Republican nomination for Senate in the Minnesota primary election, CBS News projects.
Tafoya will face Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in November, who won the Democratic nomination.
Tafoya, when she announced her candidacy in January, said Minnesota was “in a crisis.”
Her campaign website highlights stopping fraud, supporting law enforcement, cutting “costs and taxes” for the middle class and bringing back “courage and common sense.”
“Minnesotans are beaten down by this fraud,” Tafoya said on Monday night after CBS News projected her to win. “$9 billion was stolen from all of us taxpayers. We’re seeing test scores go down while crime goes up; we are seeing businesses flee and our kids are unable to afford to stay. This needs to change.”
A Republican has not been elected to the U.S. Senate from Minnesota since Norm Coleman in 2002.
“I’m here to represent all Minnesotans,” she said as she voted on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re going to do that; we’re going to fight for them.”
Tafoya defeated a large field that included Adam Schwarze, a former Navy SEAL and Marine, who was endorsed by the Republican Party of Minnesota at its state convention in Duluth in May.
See full results for the Minnesota primary on WCCO’s results page.
