On Tuesday, February 5th voters in all of Pine County and parts of Carlton, Kanabec and St. Louis counties will decide who will replace outgoing State Senator Tony Lourey.
Lourey accepted a position with the new Tim Walz administration and his son Stu Lourey quickly filed to replace him. Stu Lourey has not been living in the district and instead worked for disgraced Senator Al Franken and then Senator Tina Smith in Washington D.C. This was one of the reasons that caused Democrat delegates to reject Stu Lourey at their endorsing convention.
Stu Lourey was able to win the primary regardless and is hoping large outside spending and his name will be enough to defeat local state representative and union electrician Jason Rarick.
Minnesota Democrats have spent over $400,000 in TV ads attacking Jason Rarick and outside special interest groups have been flooding the district with false ads about Jason Rarick.
Stu Lourey has been able to outraise Republican Jason Rarick mostly using his families money.
Republican hope the fact that Jason Rarick’s long list of endorsements that include Democrat-leaning unions like International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, Minnesota Pipe Trades Association and conservative groups like National Rifle Association will help offset the large money advantage.
Pro-life groups like Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and Minnesota Family Council have also been advocating on behalf of Jason Rarick.
Due to the very short time frame caused by Senator Tony Lourey announcing his resignation, many voters could be disenfranchised. Additionally, special elections have historically low turnout so every vote becomes very important.
You can follow the results of this election here
