GOP primary in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District marked by confusion, intraparty feuding

MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Teirab was supposed to have a clear path to take on swing district Democrat Angie Craig in one of the most closely watched House races in the country this year.

Last weekend, former President Donald Trump endorsed Teirab, a former federal prosecutor who is also backed by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Teirab significantly outraised his only GOP opponent Tayler Rahm, and Rahm suspended his campaign last month to work as Trump’s senior adviser in Minnesota.

But just days before the Aug. 13 primary, it appears that Teirab is still embroiled in a primary battle with Rahm. Rahm’s lawn signs are visible in the 2nd Congressional District, his campaign literature continues to show up in mailboxes and his name is on the primary ballot because he missed the June 6 cutoff to withdraw.

“It sounds like if [Rahm’s] victorious in the primary, he will unsuspend his campaign and run against Angie in the general,” said 2nd Congressional District GOP Chair Joe Ditto, who believes Rahm still has a shot at winning the primary, though he thinks his chances may be less now that Teirab has Trump’s support.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, whoever wins the primary will be on the November general election ballot unless that candidate dies, is incapacitated or becomes ineligible.

Since Rahm suspended his campaign, neither he nor the 2nd Congressional District Republican Party has endorsed Teirab.

Rahm “either needs to say that he wants to win the primary or we need to unify behind Joe Teirab,” said state Sen. Eric Pratt of Prior Lake, who backed Teirab after Rahm suspended his campaign. “Right now, those are the only two options we have. I know there are some activists that are absolutely convinced if [Rahm wins], he’s gonna jump back in the race.”

Pratt and some Republicans worry the confusion could hurt their chances of flipping the seat. Pratt also expressed frustration with the local party for not stepping in to unify behind Teirab.

“The reason the CD2 Republican organization exists is to try to win elections and unless they know something that they’re not telling us, it doesn’t seem like that’s what they’re trying to do,” Pratt continued.

Backed by grassroots conservatives, Rahm overwhelmingly won the Republican endorsement over Teirab before he suspended his campaign. His departure left loyal supporters upset after they campaigned for him.

Some of them are now reluctant or refusing to back Teirab because he didn’t follow through on his pledge to drop out if he did not get the party’s endorsement. Some are also upset because they view Teirab as an establishment candidate, and point to Rep. Tom Emmer’s joint fundraising committee backing Teirab as evidence of the majority whip and Washington’s influence in the high-stakes race.

Trump’s endorsement isn’t changing their minds.

“The couple thousand of us that are activist class, I don’t think any of us are swayed by that at all,” said Paul Tuschy, who knocked on as many as 2,800 doors for Rahm and plans to vote for him in the primary.

Ditto said the local party is not spending resources to back Rahm and is barred from helping Teirab because he is not their endorsed candidate. The party’s committee was recently asked if they wanted to hold another endorsement convention before the primary to potentially back Teirab, but the motion was unanimously rejected.

“They’re definitely all united in, we should wait and see what happens with the primary,” Ditto said.

Rahm reiterated in a recent interview that his campaign is suspended and he is out of the race. He said his campaign did attempt to withdraw his name from the primary ballot.

“My campaign has been fully suspended, there’s no operations going on. My sole focus is on working as a senior adviser to President Trump in flipping Minnesota and making history, as a Republican hasn’t won Minnesota as a president since 1972,” Rahm said.

“If somehow I was able to win the primary, which I don’t believe is likely, I would cross that bridge at that time to decide what I was going to do,” he added.

Rahm repeated that he had no plans to back Teirab. He has not published any public statements since Trump backed Teirab and could not be reached for comment on the former president’s endorsement.

“Rahm’s boss endorsed his opponent and I don’t believe he’s done anything to announce that his boss is supporting his opponent,” said Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the state Republican Party who lives in the district and is undecided in the race.

With the Trump endorsement in hand, Teirab’s campaign manager said they expect to see a “decisive win,” calling on Rahm to be more clear before the primary.

“Tayler said he suspended his campaign. We trust that he’s not still campaigning. That being said, there is certainly some confusion brewing among some of his supporters and Tayler could be more explicit about his decision in order to clear that up,” Teirab’s campaign manager Christine Snell said in a email.

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