Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger will advance to the Nov. 4 special election for Minnesota Senate District 47, defeating fellow DFL Rep. Ethan Cha in Tuesday’s primary.
Rep Hemmingsen-Jaeger carried every precinct in the district while garnering 82.28% of the vote. Turnout was light as expected for an August primary with a short interval between the DFL endorsement and the vote.
Hemmingsen-Jaeger, who represents House District 47A, will face Republican Dwight Dorau in a high-stakes general election that could determine which party controls the Minnesota Senate. The DFL currently holds a one-seat majority, but with two vacancies, including the Woodbury-area seat left open after former Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s felony burglary conviction, both parties are treating the race as pivotal.
Hemmingsen-Jaeger has a strong record in her House races, winning reelection in 2024 with more than 61% of the vote after first securing the seat in 2022 with a similar margin.
She earned the DFL endorsement earlier this month, winning support from local delegates over Cha. During the endorsement convention, she emphasized priorities such as expanding paid family and medical leave, protecting reproductive rights and ensuring sick and safe time for workers.
Cha, who represents House District 47B and immigrated to Minnesota as a child from a Thai refugee camp, opted to stay in the race despite losing the endorsement.
The November contest carries outsized importance. The DFL holds a narrow 33-32 edge in the Minnesota Senate, but with vacancies in District 47 and District 29, the latter left open after the death of GOP Sen. Bruce Anderson in July, either party could gain control depending on the outcome of the special elections.
Woodbury, the state’s seventh-largest city, has leaned Democratic in recent cycles. Mitchell carried the Senate seat in 2022 with nearly 59% of the vote, and Hemmingsen-Jaeger and Cha both won their House districts by comfortable margins last year. Still, Republicans are expected to invest heavily in the race, pointing to Mitchell’s felony conviction as evidence of what they call failed DFL leadership.
The winner in November will serve out the remainder of Mitchell’s term through 2026.
