On paper the open seat in House District 43A should favor the DFL nominee. Partisan indexes suggest the district tilts in their favor by anywhere from 2 to 14 percentage points.

House District 43A is an odd creation. It meanders from the border of St. Paul to the northeast and contains at least part of five cities, including Maplewood, White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi.

On Saturday Reps. Glenn Gruenhagen and Ron Shimanski squared off in Hutchinson for the GOP endorsement in House District 18B. On the second ballot Gruenhagen pulled within half a percentage point of crossing the 60 percent threshold required for endorsement.