Photos From the Road: Minnesota Loves a Parade

By Simone Pathé and Tom Williams

Posted September 19, 2018 at 2:02pm

Minnesota is ground zero for the 2018 midterms. With four competitive House races, two Senate elections and a gubernatorial contest, there’s been no shortage of campaigning across the Gopher State.

Roll Call is in the state all week, capturing the candidates and talking to voters, so keep following along for more coverage.

Photographer Tom Williams began his Minnesota tour in the 1st District. It’s an open seat that Democratic-Farmer-Labor Rep. Tim Walz is vacating to run for governor. Republicans are on offense here, hoping to flip a blue seat red.

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 16: Jim Hagedorn, Republican candidate for Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, campaigns in the Applefest parade in La Crescent, Minn., on September 16, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) — Minnesota Republican Jim Hagedorn campaigns during the Applefest parade in La Crescent, Minn., on Sunday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Democrat Dan Feehan, an Iraq veteran and former Pentagon official, is trying to keep the seat in the Democratic column. His Republican opponent, perennial candidate Jim Hagedorn, came within a point of knocking off Walz in 2016, when President Donald Trump carried the district by 15 points. After winning the August primary, Hagedorn is back for his third try at the seat.

Democrats are on offense in the 3rd District, where GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen is running for a sixth term in a district that backed Hillary Clinton by 9 points in 2016. Democrat Dean Phillips, whose family was in the gelato and vodka business, is putting Paulsen in more danger than he was two years ago.

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 15: Dean Phillips, right, Democratic candidate for Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District, talks with Jeff Halpern, at the — Minnesota Democrat Dean Phillips, right, talks with Jeff Halpern at his “Everyone’s Invited!” picnic in Excelsior, Minn., on Saturday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

GOP state Sen. Karin Housley is challenging DFL Sen. Tina Smith to fill out the remainder of former Sen. Al Franken’s term. Republicans have a better shot at defeating Smith than they do of unseating the state’s senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, but Housley has still trailed Smith in polling.