Minnesota Lawyer
12:47 a.m.: Dayton tells reporters he respects Kelliher’s prerogative to make sure all the votes are counted.
12:40 a.m.: Kelliher said she’s not making any decisions yet. “We’re going to make sure every vote counts.”
12:26 a.m.: The AP has Dayton in the lead with 3,692 votes over Kelliher with 95 percent of precincts reporting.
12:22 a.m.: The AP calls the race for Dayton.
12:03 a.m.: Crawford holds 11 percent lead over Takala with only one precinct left to report.
11:55 p.m.: Dayton is leads DFL primary by 335 votes, according to AP.
11:49 p.m.: KSTP-TV says Kelliher/Dayton split by 60 votes! With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Kelliher has 164,686 votes and Dayton has 164,626.
11:35 p.m.: The AP calls District 29A for endorsed candidate Quam.
11:28 p.m.: The difference is down to 1,300 votes in Kelliher’s favor. Kelliher has 41 percent and Dayton has 40 percent.
11:20 p.m.: With 57 percent precincts reporting in District 8B GOP primary, Crawford has 936 votes (66.38 percent) and Takala has 474 votes (33.62 percent).
11:15 p.m.: The AP is reporting 83 percent precincts reporting in governor’s race. Kelliher has 41 percent and Dayton has 40 percent. They’re separated by 2,200 votes.
11:04 p.m.: The AP has called the District 12 race for Gazelka. Koering’s defeat leaves open the ranking GOP spot on the bonding-bill writing Senate Capital Investment Committee.
10:58 p.m.: In District 29A in rural Rochester, GOP endorsed candidate Duane Quam is leading challenger Kerry Stoick. With 45.7 percent of precincts reporting, Quam, who has served on the Byron School Board, has 65.3 percent. Stoick, a Tea Party activist, stands at 34.7 percent. The winner will compete against Doug Wunderlich in the general election to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Randy Demmer, R-Hayfield, who is running for Congress.
10:50 p.m.: The Dayton/Kelliher split is a little more than 1 percent. With 61.6 percent of precincts reporting, Kelliher has 41.7 percent and Dayton has 39.38 percent.
10:44 p.m.: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie tells MPR’s Gary Eichten half-a-percent difference in the governor’s race, which would require an automatic recount, would be “roughly a couple thousand votes.”
10:38 p.m.: The gap is narrowing between Kelliher and Dayton. Kelliher, who had been holding at 44 percent of the vote, is down to 42 percent. Dayton, who was at 37 percent earlier this evening, has risen to 39.12 percent. Election watchers are waiting for results in the Duluth area, where Dayton’s running mate Yvonne Prettner Solon is a state senator.
10:30 p.m.: Roger Crawford is leading Rudy Takala in the GOP primary in the central Minnesota District 8B. With 24 percent reporting, Crawford has 203 votes (64 percent) and Takala has 112 votes (35.5 percent). The race pits former Mora Mayor Crawford against young Tea Party activist Takala. The winner will face incumbent Rep. Tim Faust, DFL-Mora, in November. The swing district was decided by less than 2 percentage points in 2008.
10:10 p.m.: GOP-endorsed state House candidate Bob Barrett in District 17B is way out ahead of challenger Wyoming Mayor Sheldon Anderson. With 62 percent of precincts reporting, Barrett, a Hazelden executive, has 77 percent of the vote, which represents a 964-vote lead. The winner will advance to compete in a prime GOP takeover opportunity to fill the open seat being vacated by Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-North Branch.
10:01 p.m.: With 52 percent of precincts reporting in District 12, Gazelka leads Koering by nearly 15 percent.
9:49 p.m.: The AP calls District 50 for challenger Goodwin. Chaudhary’s defeat leaves a vacant chair at the lead of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
9:48 p.m.: Kelliher is holding in the 44 percent range. Dayton is inching up to 38 percent in the DFL gubernatorial primary results. That’s a 14,000 vote lead with 33 percent of precincts are reporting.
9:42 p.m.: In the GOP Senate primary contest in the Brainerd area, former state Rep. Paul Gazelka has the edge over incumbent Sen. Paul Koering with 31.6 percent of precincts reporting. Gazelka, who won the endorsement earlier this year, has 54.8 percent. Koering, who is the openly gay Republican in the Legislature and a target for social conservative groups, so far has 45 percent in the race that will determine if he gets to seek a third term.
9:35 p.m.: Rena Moran is being congratulated by her supporters for victory in District 65A. With 81.8 percent of precincts in the St. Paul district reporting, Moran has 54.6 percent. DFL-endorsed candidate Jeremiah Ellis has 45 percent.
9:26 p.m.: Entenza is delivering his concession speech ending his DFL gubernatorial primary bid. The former DFL House minority leader from St. Paul says starting tomorrow he will “make sure the DFL is unified.”
9:22 p.m.: Former state Rep. Barb Goodwin is ahead of incumbent Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, in District 50. Chaudhary, who is seeking a fourth term in the Senate, was stripped of his endorsement by the local DFL party over an ethics controversy. Goodwin challenged Chaudhary and subsequently received the endorsement. With 11 percent of precincts reporting, Goodwin leads with 70 percent.
9:20 p.m.: The Associated Press has called the heavily-DFL District 67 for Harrington.
9:09: Former state Rep. Shelley Madore is leading Dan Powers in the DFL primary in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. Madore, of Apple Valley, has 54 percent. Powers has 45.7 percent with 14 percent of precincts reporting. The victor faces GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. John Kline in November.
9:02 p.m.: In District 67 on St. Paul’s East Side, former St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington leads the field of nine DFLers seeking to run in the general election to replace retiring Sen. Mee Moua. Harrington has captured 31 percent with 92 percent of precincts reporting. Chai Lee and Avi Viswanathan both have about eleven-and-a-half percent.
8:50 p.m.: DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher is showing an early 47.5 percent lead with 14.6 percent of precincts reporting. Mark Dayton has 35 percent and Matt Entenza has 17 percent.
