Two special elections for open seats in a Roseville House district and a Minneapolis Senate district have drawn a number of candidates with control of both chambers at stake. Last month a Ramsey County judge ruled that Curtis Johnson was ineligible to serve for the 40B seat he was elected to in November due to residency issues. Johnson has declined to appeal the ruling leaving the seat open.
His GOP challenger in the November election Paul Wikstrom is running for the seat. Also running are DFLers David Gottfried, Jasmine Carey and Kaying Thao. The DFLers will compete in a Jan.
14 primary election with the winner advancing to face off against Wikstrom on Jan. 28. Kari Dziedzic’s death last month following a battle with cancer left a vacancy in her Minneapolis Senate seat.
Dziedzic, 62, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2023 and stepped down from the role of Senate majority leader earlier last year as she underwent medical treatment. Dziedzic represented Senate District 60 for more than a decade. That race has drawn DFLers Peter Wagenius, Iris Grace Altamirano, Mohamed Jama, Emilio Cesar Rodriguez, Amal Karim, Joshua Preston, Monica Meyer, Doron Clark and Clay Morgan as candidates.
Meanwhile, Republicans Abigail Wolters, Christopher Zimmerman and Jonathan Kraemer also have filed for the seat. They will all compete in a Jan. 14 primary for the chance to move on to the Jan.
28 election. Gov. Tim Walz called the special elections last month.
Also in the mix is a contested Hou.