Brad Finstad won the Minnesota 1st Congressional District primary on Tuesday, keeping the Republican nomination as he heads into a November race that could help decide control of a closely watched southern Minnesota House seat. The incumbent representative advanced after facing Gregory Goetzman and Oliver Morlan in the GOP contest.
Goetzman, who challenged Finstad again after an unsuccessful run in 2024, finished far behind the incumbent in that earlier primary, taking 4.26% of the vote while Finstad received 90.9%. Morlan, who works in his family’s industrial cleaning business, entered the race as an outsider. Finstad will now meet the Democratic nominee, with the party’s primary still determining whether voters choose Alex Eaton or Jake Johnson.
The Democratic field features Eaton, a math teacher and former teachers-union leader, and Johnson, a small business owner. Eaton is viewed as the more establishment candidate, while Johnson is seen as the more progressive option. That matchup will shape the party’s challenge in a district that Cook Political Report rates as leaning Republican, a step down from the solid Republican label it carried in earlier elections.
Minnesota’s 1st District stretches across much of the state’s farm country in the south and includes Rochester. It is one of four Republican-held U.S. House districts in Minnesota’s eight-seat delegation, and it has remained competitive enough to attract attention from both parties. The seat has swung before, reflecting the political tug of war that continues across the state.
