Matt Little wins contested Minnesota 2nd District primary in race to replace Angie Craig

Matt Little is projected to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) nomination for the state’s 2nd Congressional District in a tight race to retain U.S. Rep. Angie Craig’s (D-MN) seat.

With Craig running for U.S. Senate against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (DFL), five DFL candidates entered to try and win the swing seat. The three main candidates were all state legislators: state Sen. Little (DFL-Lakeville), state Rep. Kaela Berg (DFL-Burnsville) and state Sen. Matt Klein (DFL-Mendota Heights). The DFL endorsed Little in its party convention in May.

Other DFL candidates included educator Abdi Abdulle, scientist Hugh McTavish and Christopher Mosel.

Decision Desk called the race at 9:03 p.m. CST. As of 9:15 p.m. CST, Little led with 49% of the vote, with 64% of the estimated vote counted.

Little is set to race Republican Eric Pratt, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary on Tuesday.

Klein ran as a moderate that appeared most likely to succeed Craig, another moderate who held the seat for four terms. The Mayo Clinic physician notably received $2.46 million in supportive ads from 314 Action, a super PAC dedicated to getting doctors and scientists elected. That came under fire from progressives and pro-Palestine activists, who note that 314 Action previously received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 2024. Although Klein has said he supports Israel and wants a two-state solution for it and Palestine, 314 Action repeatedly said that no pro-Israel money went to Klein and that it is not a pro-Israel PAC, highlighting its endorsement of pro-Palestine Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Both Little and Berg ran as progressives, with the former receiving endorsements from progressive U.S. Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX), Maxwell Frost (D-FL) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). Meanwhile, Berg received endorsements from numerous unions, pro-abortion groups and pro-women groups. Little has accused Berg of accepting de facto AIPAC money through some of the endorsed groups, but Berg has denied that and said if AIPAC was sending her money, it was to split the progressive vote. Super PACs affiliated with AIPAC have attempted this tactic in past congressional races, including March’s Democratic primary in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District.

Cook Political Report rates the 2nd District as “Likely D,” but the district only favors Democrats by three percentage points. In 2024, Craig beat Republican Joe Teirab by 13 percentage points.