Keri Heintzeman wins GOP primary for Minnesota Senate seat left by Justin Eichorn

Keri Heintzeman won the crowded GOP primary for an open Minnesota Senate seat on Tuesday, securing a spot in the special election later this month to replace former Sen. Justin Eichorn.

As of 10:27 p.m. with nearly 95% of precincts reporting, Heintzeman was far ahead of the seven other Republican candidates with about 47% of the vote, according to data from the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Heintzeman, who is married to state Rep. Josh Heintzeman, served as district director for President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and owns a recreational rental business.

“I express my heartfelt gratitude to the residents of Senate District 6 for their trust and support in advancing me to the Special Election on April 29th,” said Keri Heintzeman, in a statement Tuesday night. “I am deeply honored by their confidence. The upcoming election is critical for restoring fiscal responsibility to our state government and ensuring accountability for the significant waste and fraud under the Walz administration.”

Heintzeman will face Denise Slipy, the Democratic nominee for the district, in two weeks. Slipy, an environmental health professional and first responder from Breezy Point, was the only DFL candidate in the race and will move on automatically to the April 29 special election.

Minnesota DFL Chair Richard Carlbom said in a statement Tuesday that Slipy would “fight to protect her constituents’ health care and be a champion for strong public schools.”

The special election comes after Eichorn resigned from the Minnesota Senate last month rather than be expelled following his arrest in an underage prostitution sting. The GOP senator was first elected in 2016.

Senate District 6 covers portions of Crow Wing, Cass and Itasca counties. Eichorn defeated his DFL challenger in 2022 by 27 percentage points.

The GOP field was crowded in the solidly conservative district and included former Minnesota GOP Party Chair and Nisswa Mayor Jennifer Carnahan and Josh Gazelka, the son of former Senate leader Paul Gazelka.

Former Breezy Point Mayor Angel Zierden, Army veteran Steve Cotariu, businessman John Howe, conservative activist Doug Kern and former House candidate Matthew Zinda also ran in the special primary race.

All but one of the candidates to replace Eichorn hailed from Crow Wing County. Despite this, several voters in Pequot Lakes on Tuesday afternoon said they backed Howe, who is from Itasca County.

“He’s a veteran. He’s well established,” said Bonnie Olson, 76, a retired Realtor from Pequot Lakes after casting her ballot for Howe.

Janet and Bob Jones, also of Pequot Lakes, said they are “die-hard Trumpers” who voted for Howe.

“It was hard to choose. But [Howe] was up there all by himself, and he... seemed to cover all the bases,” said Janet Jones, 75, a retired nurse. “I’d like to see the mineral rights preserved and timber and all that. We need to get going in this country, the young people need jobs.”

Jane Ryan, 61, of Nisswa, said she didn’t have time to research many of the other candidates. But she knew Keri Heintzeman and liked her family.

“Let’s face it, this happened really quick,” she said at City Hall. “As soon as I heard that she was running, I thought, yeah.”

Nisswa City Clerk Kiki Lindbery said turnout was low, which is typical for primary elections, but Tuesday was even slower because she said not as many people knew about the special primary race.

By 3 p.m., the city’s only polling place didn’t yet break 200 voters. She said they pushed out “I Voted” stickers like advertisements, “so people can see there’s a primary today.”

At Breezy Point’s only polling place in the police station, they were nearing 300 voters by 5 p.m. Jason Steinberg, 22, who works at the resort, said he voted for Zierden, the town’s former mayor, per the advice of his parents.

“They said Angel made the most sense in their opinion. And I look up to my parents and kind of followed their vote.”

Eichorn, the father of four from Grand Rapids, resigned in the fallout of federal charges accusing him of attempting to solicit sex from a 17-year-old girl and has been ordered to a halfway house. The Minnesota Senate is narrowly divided with 34 Democrats and 32 Republicans pending the results of the special election.

The Senate District 6 race is the third special election to be held in Minnesota so far this year. A late-January special election was held to fill a Minneapolis Senate seat after DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic died from ovarian cancer.

Another special election in March filled a Roseville-area House seat that had become vacant after a Democrat was ruled ineligible to serve because he failed to meet residency requirements.

By the time the new senator is seated, lawmakers will be in the final weeks of Minnesota’s legislative session, making it a busy time for a new member to join the body.

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