RESULTS: First-term Democratic Rep. Angie Craig defeats Tyler Kistner in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District

• First-term Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is projected to defeat the Republican Tyler Kistner in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, Insider and Decision Desk HQ can report.
• Craig became the first openly lesbian mother in Congress when she was elected in 2018.
• This suburban district is one of 30 congressional districts in the US that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 but is currently represented by a Democrat.
• See the live coverage and full results from all US House elections.

First-term Rep. Angie Craig has retained her seat against the Republican challenger Tyler Kistner in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, Insider and Decision Desk HQ can report.

The race had been in limbo after of the death in late September of Adam Weeks, a Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate. Minnesota statutes dictated that a special election be held in the district.

The ballot would still list Weeks as the party's nominee, but Minnesota law stipulated that the House race would not be certified and would instead rely on the results of the special election with an updated ballot. The special election was set for February 9.

But on October 9, US District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright granted Craig's request for a preliminary injunction to require Minnesota to hold the election as scheduled on November 3. Wright sided with Craig's argument that the Minnesota statute violated a federal law requiring states to hold elections for members of Congress on the first Tuesday after the First Monday in November.

The candidates

Craig was a newspaper reporter before she moved to London to work in human resources for a medical-device company.

Craig became the first openly lesbian mother in Congress when she was elected in 2018. In the summer of 2020, she introduced a bill to extend Paycheck Protection Program loans by five weeks. In July, President Donald Trump enacted the bill, her second signed by the president.

"I'll never stop fighting to keep the American dream alive, especially not in the middle of a global pandemic," she said in a statement. "That's why I urgently worked across the aisle to secure an extension of the PPP program. Our communities deserve our commitment that their best interests are what is driving our legislation."

Kistner is a former US Marine and member of the Marine special operations forces. His campaign platform centered on national security, improving infrastructure across the country, and defunding Planned Parenthood.

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The district

The 2nd Congressional District is home to the Twin Cities metropolitan area and contains Wabasha, Dakota, Goodhue, and Scott counties.

The district is one of 30 in the country that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 but is currently represented by a Democrat. Trump narrowly carried the district in 2016, winning it by 1.2 points over Hillary Clinton.

Since 2016, this suburban district has trended considerably more Democratic. In 2018, Craig won her first election over Rep. Jason Lewis by 5 points, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz carried the district by 7 points, 51% to 44%, and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar won it by over 22 points, 59% to 37%.

The money race

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Craig had raised $4.9 million, spent $2.8 million, and had $2.1 million in cash on hand as of September 30, while Kistner had raised $2.6 million, $2.1 million, and had a little under $440,000 in cash on hand.

What the experts said

The race was rated as "safe Democratic" by Inside Elections and "likely Democratic" by The Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.