Republican and Democratic party faithful are getting ready for their state party conventions — both next weekend, D-F-L in Rochester and G-O-P in Duluth. Carleton College analyst Steven Schier says on the Republican side, current front-runner for governor Jeff Johnson “will probably be the [party] endorsee, but he’s not going to be the favorite in the primary.” Schier says former Governor Tim Pawlenty, who’s not seeking his party’s endorsement, “would have to be considered a considerable favorite to win a Republican primary,… so it’s not at all clear that the state convention is going to make any big difference for the gubernatorial race.”
On the D-F-L side, Tim Walz, Rebecca Otto and Erin Murphy are vying for the endorsement for governor, but Schier says, “It’s not clear to me who can muster 60 percent of the delegates in order to get an endorsement. All three of the candidates seem well short of that, and all three of them seem to be very determined to stay in the race.” Schier says, “Could be that there’ll be no endorsement and they’ll have multiple candidates in the primary election.”
Minnesota’s primary election is August 14th.
More in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner: