Incumbent state Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, was on path to the most dominant win of his political career with 16,892 votes (69.37%) to 7,446 (30.59%) for DFL challenger Gaylene Spolarich at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Briefly a candidate for the 8th Congressional District DFL nomination, Spolarich’s bid to unseat Lueck was framed around addressing pressing issues for central Minnesotans. She discussed boosting health care, rural broadband expansion, as well as mitigating COVID-19 and associated economic fallout with a bent for incorporating her Native American heritage as not only a strength, but a focal point of her candidacy to represent all communities in the district.
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Perhaps in response to this, Lueck’s 2020 bid for reelection was notably chippy, taking exception to notions he didn’t represent Native American communities just as diligently as he does Caucasian communities. He also pushed back against popular notions that partisan gridlock is crippling the Legislature, stating that Republicans and DFLers are able to find common ground on the vast majority of issues. He leaned on his time-honored credentials as a Second-Amendment, anti-abortion, and law enforcement champion in the House.
Going back to his tighter 50.9% to 48% win over DFL incumbent Joe Radinovich in 2014, Lueck has steadily chipped away at the opposition’s vote, garnering 63% and then 65% of the tally in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
