Dodge County primary results largely follow state trends
The 2026 primaries occurred last week for races big and small across the state. While Dodge County had no county-level primaries, its residents were able to participate in a number of races including those for Governor, the state legislature and congress.
Dodge County
For the DFL governor race, 1,043 voters, or nearly 93% of Dodge County residents that participated in the DFL primary voted for Amy Klobuchar and Ben Schierer, with the next DFL candidate, Kobey J. Layne and Paul Ference receiving just 48 votes or 4.27% of the vote.
On the Republican side of the governor’s primary, Dodge County voters bucked the state trend and chose Mike Lindell and Phillip C. Parrish with 855 votes or 45.77% of the vote, a full 15% above Lisa Demuth and Ryan Wilson who received 564 votes or 30.19% in Dodge County but won the state overall.
In the senate race for the seat left open in the wake of Sen. Tina Smith’s retirement, Dodge County followed the state trend and picked Michele Tafoya for the Republicans and Peggy Flanagan for the DFL.
Tafoya received 799 votes or 43.85%, with Adam Schwarze trailing behind with 482 votes or 26.45%. On the DFL side, Flanagan received 654 votes or 58.24% with opponent Rep. Angie Craig receiving 442 votes or 39.36%.
For the U.S. Representative District 1 race, Dodge County primary voters chose Republican Brad Finstad to square off against DFLer Jake Johnson in November.
Finstad received 1,679 votes or 91.20% of the vote. Johnson received 868 votes or 80.82% of the vote.
For Secretary of State, Dodge County voters chose Republican Tad Jude who received 935 or 53.83% of the vote beating out competitor Wendy Phillips who received 802 or 46.17%.
Current Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon ran unopposed in the primary.
Republican primary voters chose Scott Jensen for the party’s State Auditor candidate. Jenson received 1,219 votes or 68.52% of the vote, beating both other Republican State Auditor candidates by double digit margins.
DFL State Auditor candidate Zack Filipovich ran unopposed for the DFL.
Current Minnesota Attorney General Kieth Ellison won out in Dodge County with 904 votes or 83.32% of the vote. Republican Attorney General candidate Ronald J. Schutz ran unopposed.
Byron
Over the border into Olmsted County, Byron voters broadly followed state trends across the board and on both sides of the ballot.
For the governor’s race, Byron voters selected Klobuchar and Demuth. Similar to Dodge County and statewide trends, Klobuchar received 418 votes or 91.67% of the vote in Byron. Demuth beat Lindell by mere 12 votes in the city’s single precinct, winning 41.38% of the vote to Lindell’s 37.62%.
For U.S. Senator 151 Byron voters chose Republican primary candidate Tafoya who won there with 48.71% of the vote. On the DFL side, Flanagan received 315 votes or 68.63%.
In the race for U.S. Representative in District 1, on the Republican side of the ballot, Finstad received 278 votes or 88.54% of the Byron vote, and Johnson received 398 or 87.92%
Down the ballot, Byron voters narrowly chose Republican Secretary of State candidate Wendy Williams over Tad Jude. Williams received 151 votes or 51.19% to Jude’s 144 votes or 48.81%.
For State Auditor, Jenson won the Byron vote in the Republican primary with 199 votes or 68.15%.
In the DFL Attorney General primary, Ellison won handily in Byron with 380 votes or 85.78%.
For complete election results statewide, visit electionresults.sos.mn.gov