Has the long exercise in performative branding that has been Jeremy Munson's political career in the Minnesota House come to an end for now?
Readers may recall his awkward "Republican Farmer Labor Caucus"--seemingly ignorant of the radical left history of Minnesota's Farmer-Labor movement---and the tiny New Republican House Caucus. Erik Mortensen soon left it, stealing the radical right sector with his departure.
After losing the earlier primary to Brad Finstad for the remainder of the late Jim Hagedorn's term--Munson lost another primary Tuesday. (Finstad won the short-term Tuesday, defeating DFLer Jeff Ettinger).
Mark Fischenich reports in Finstad easily tops Munson in CD1 primary:
The Nov. 8 ballot is set in the new 1st congressional district following Tuesday’s primary election — Finstad vs. Ettinger, plus a couple of pro-pot candidates.
Republican Brad Finstad of New Ulm soundly defeated state Rep. Jeremy Munson of Lake Crystal in the GOP contest. Finstad had 76% of the vote to Munson’s 24% with 738 of 749 precincts reporting just after midnight. . . .
The Republican race, however, had the potential to be more competitive based on the razor-thin margin of victory by Finstad in a special primary election to fill the remaining months of the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn’s current term. Finstad won 13,995 votes to Munson’s 13,268 in the May 24 contest to determine the Republican nominee in the special election, also held Tuesday, to pick a congressman to temporarily fill the vacancy created by Hagedorn’s death.
After losing that race, Munson initially stated he would be stepping away from politics after three terms in the state House and would back Finstad in the Nov. 8 election. Then, just before the filing period closed, he entered the general election race.
In a mass email issued by his campaign 10 days ago, Munson indicated he was highly motivated to defeat Finstad and encouraged supporters to help, suggesting the Republican endorsement process had been rigged against him, that Finstad was the establishment’s choice because of his alleged free-spending ways and that grassroots conservatives could still rally around Munson to defeat the party bosses’ favored candidate.
“Donald Trump had to fight off attacks from the Establishment on his way to becoming one of the greatest Presidents of our lifetime, and now I’m having to fight off the same corrupt bureaucrats trying to suppress the grassroots,” Munson wrote. “The MN GOP is trying to silence a legitimate primary, and we cannot allow the Establishment to coronate Brad Finstad because he’s willing to spend billions of taxpayer money and I am not.”
Munson’s email contained a link titled “Help me show the Establishment that their corruption will not be tolerated by the grassroots.” Clinking on the link took supporters to a page where they could donate various amounts to Munson’s campaign ranging as high as $5,800.
But Munson spent just $446 on his campaign between July 1 and July 28, according to his latest filing with the FEC. Finstad spent nearly $161,000 during that same time period and more than $507,000 since beginning his run.
In the past month, Munson appeared to be more focused on preserving his campaign cash than on spending money on advertising or other means of persuading voters to support him. Missing from the latest contest were the five-figure payments Munson made in the May race to political firms specializing in texting, direct mail, door-knocking and phone-banking services.
As of July 28, Munson had $208,941 in unspent cash in his campaign account. That was just slightly more than enough to cover the outstanding debt in his campaign account — the $200,000 personal loan he made to the campaign on March 11 when he was considered a frontrunner in the race. . . .
We hope that Munson devotes more time to business interests (a fine snapshot here in his disclosure statement filed at the Office of theClerk of U.S House of Representatives) and his wonderful family.
As for rocks and cows, they failed to show up at the polls. Sometimes memes are awkward.
Related posts:
- MN01: Munson bares his soul in 7-page letter
- MN House passes resolution opposing violence, supporting democracy, some members pass
- Minnesota House sedition faction reply to Protest and Dissent letter, defend attack on state voters
- Couldn't get to DC: Akland, Drazkowski, Franson, Gruenhagen, Lucero & Munson storm MN state capitol
- From the Journal of the House: Eight members protest & dissent those who signed Paxton letter
- Roll over, Elmer Benson, tell Floyd B. Olson the news: Republican Farmer Labor Caucus formed
- Random white guy with an opinion on PBS thinks Sioux & Dakota fought war against each other
- Rebukes greet New House Republican Jeremy Munson's "$24.88 Life Saving Insulin" video
- Passionate insulin "Mama Bear" follows the money on Jeremy Munson's diabetes authority
- Rep Wants to Merge Rural Minnesota with South Dakota (Dakota Free Press)
Image: A meme posted on Tuesday on Munson's campaign Facebook page.
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