Incumbent Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is projected to win her Minnesota seat, beating her Republican opponent, former congressman Jason Lewis in a state that awarded ten electoral votes to Democrat candidate Joe Biden, the Associated Press reported.
Smith ran for a full six-year term after being appointed to the Senate to replace Al Franken, who resigned in 2017.
Smith, who used to work as a Planned Parenthood executive before seeking public office, then won a 2018 special election to serve out the rest of Franken’s term, the Star Tribune reported.
Her Republican opponent, former congressman Jason Lewis, worked as a conservative talk radio show host and held elected office representing Minnesota’s second congressional district until he lost his 2018 re-election campaign to Democrat Angie Craig.
Lewis is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and was part of the welcoming committee when Trump arrived in Minneapolis on the campaign trail, CNBC reported.
Lewis told Breitbart News Tonight in an exclusive interview in September that the riots and civil unrest in Minnesota “widens the silent majority” and could pull off a win for Trump.
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate also said in a separate October interview with Breitbart News Tonight that the GOP’s Senate majority could come down to picking up that seat in Minnesota, and although Minnesota has widely been considered a Democrat state,
Minnesota has widely been considered a Democrat state, but Republicans took control in rural areas of Minnesota in the 2016 race when Donald Trump was elected, and in the the 2018 midterms, making the state a potential toss-up, MPR News reported.