In Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig and retired U.S. Marine Tyler Kistner faced off in a rematch of a 2020 election won by Craig.
This time, Craig again trounced her opponent to retain her seat in a tightly contested race.
The Associated Press called the race for Crag who won 50.9 percent while Kistner received 45.8 percent, with 95 reporting of the votes as of 2:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 9.
Both parties considered the district a pivotal election.
A former newspaper reporter and medical device executive, Craig was part of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Frontline program for vulnerable incumbents.
Kistner, who served in the Marine Corps before transitioning to the reserves, was named to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Young Guns program.
Minnesota 2nd Congressional District Republican nominee Tyler Kistner (left) talks to supporters at a campaign event. (Courtesy of Kistner for Congress)One of the most competitive races in the country became “the most expensive House race in Minnesota history,” Craig said weeks before Election Day.
Both parties, and special interest groups, spent more than $25 million on the race—mostly on attack ads.
Craig had raised $7.3 million and spent $6.5 million on her campaign by mid-October compared with $3.2 million raised and $2.8 million spent by Kistner.
Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District includes all or part of six rural and suburban counties south of the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.
Biden won there by almost 7 percentage points in 2020 while Donald Trump prevailed by 1.2 percentage points in 2016.
Craig was accustomed to rematches. In 2018, she flipped the seat from red to blue after a second consecutive campaign against former Republican Rep. Jason Lewis.
Craig defeated Kistner by nearly 2 percentage points in 2020.
With record-high inflation and a rapidly rising cost of living under the Biden administration, conditions were different for the 2022 election. Pundits rated the race as a toss-up.
Paula Overby, the Legal Marijuana Party candidate, remained on the ballot even though she died in October.
Craig billed herself as “one of the most bipartisan members of Congress” and added that “I’ve been a moderate, centrist Democrat who has stood up to my party on a number of occasions.”
Kistner would be a “rubber stamp” for conservative Republicans, Craig has said.
Craig attempted to distance herself from Biden and said she would like to see “new leadership” on the Democratic party’s 2024 ticket. Still, Kistner relentlessly linked Craig to the president’s policies and the record-high inflation that has appeared in his first term.
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