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Republican voters in Minnesota chose their incumbent representative in the U.S. House as their nominee in the race for the state’s 1st Congressional District.
Finstad faced off with Gregory Goetzman and Oliver Morlan in the Republican primary on Tuesday.
Goetzman previously unsuccessfully challenged Finstad in 2024, earning a measly 4.26% of the vote compared to the incumbent’s 90.9%. Morlan, who is involved in his family’s industrial cleaning business, ran in Tuesday’s race as the political outsider.
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Of Minnesota’s eight districts in the U.S. House of Representatives, the 1st District is one of the state’s four Republican-held House seats. It covers a large swath of southern Minnesota, including Rochester and much of the state’s farm country.
Finstad will advance to the November general election to face the winner of the Democratic primary between Alex Eaton, a math teacher and former teachers-union leader, and Jake Johnson, a small business owner. Eaton is considered more establishment while Johnson is considered to be the more progressive of the Democrat candidates.
The bipartisan Cook Political Report ranks the race as ‘lean Republican,’ a downgrade from the ‘solid Republican’ ranking in the last elections as Minnesota, especially in its city centers, increasingly embraces leftist ideals.
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Rep. Finstad has represented Minnesota in the House since winning a 2022 special election. It was held after Republican Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who after years of therapy and surgery for a kidney cancer diagnosis in 2019 and after testing positive in January 2022 for COVID-19, died on February 17, 2022.
Before Hagedorn, the seat was represented by Democrat Tim Walz, who left Congress after being elected governor in 2018. He is still governor, after an unsuccessful run for vice president on the ticket with then-Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Walz announced on January 5, 2026 he would not seek reelection.
Minnesota’s 1st congressional district has trended Republican in recent election cycles but has a history of electing candidates from both parties.
Agriculture, health care, manufacturing and the economy are expected to remain central issues as the race moves toward the November general election.
The Republican and Democratic nominees will compete in November to determine who will represent southern Minnesota in the U.S. House.
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