The Minnesota State Capitol pictured in May 2023. Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal

UPDATE Wednesday 8:40am: Former Brooklyn Park City Council Member Xp Lee won a clear majority of voters Tuesday in the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party primary for a north metro seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Lee will face Republican Ruth Bittner in a special election next month.

Original story follows:

Three candidates are running in today’s Democratic Farmer-Labor Party primary to replace former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated along with her husband in June.

The Minnesota House of Representatives District 34B seat covers Brooklyn Park and parts of Champlin and Coon Rapids. 

The winner of tonight’s DFL primary will face off against Republican challenger Bittner, a real estate agent and entrepreneur, in the general election to be held Sept. 16. The district leans heavily DFL. 

Find your polling place by visiting the Minnesota Secretary of State website.

Election results will be updated here every 15 minutes.

The DFL candidates vying for the seat are:

  • Christian Eriksen, a Brooklyn Park City Council member. Eriksen supports investing more money in education, abortion rights and changing the way the state calculates and distributes local government aid to cities and counties. He is endorsed by DFL State Rep. Huldah Hiltsley and two Brooklyn Park City Council members. 
  • Xiongpao “Xp” Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member. Lee, the son of Hmong refugees, recently received the DFL endorsement. He currently works as a health equity leader for the Minnesota Department of Health. He supports expanding the state’s public health insurance program MinnesotaCare, making Minnesota carbon free by 2040 and investing in the state’s technology infrastructure. He is also endorsed by DFL state Sen. John Hoffman, and DFL state Reps. Samantha Vang, Fue Lee and Samakab Hussein.
  • Erickson Saye, a Hennepin County prosecutor and former public engagement liaison for Gov. Tim Walz’s administration. Saye supports “strong” funding for public education, crime prevention and intervention measures and increasing transparency in state government decisionmaking.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the boundaries of District 34B and listed an incorrect date for the general special election.

Joey Peters is the politics and government reporter for Sahan Journal. He has been a journalist for 15 years. Before joining Sahan Journal, he worked for close to a decade in New Mexico, where his reporting...