Politics & Government

Rep. Michele Bachmann Claims Easy Victory in Minnesota Primary

The "technical" incumbent in Minnesota's United State Congressional District Six easily advanced to the general election.

After a failed presidential campaign, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said she was turning her attention back to her beloved Sixth District, and she's right on track. 

Bachmann easily survived challenges from two candidates in the Sixth District, defeating Aubrey Immelman and Stephen Thompson in Tuesday's primary.

She will move on to challenge DFL Party-endorsed Jim Graves of St. Cloud in the general election this November. 

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"I look forward to talking about this issues with Jim," Bachmann told St. Michael Patch late last month. "I think he's a very good businessman, but we definitely differ on a lot of issues." When asked if she'd entertain debates with Graves, Bachmann said most definitely. "I was part of more than a dozen debates in my campaign for president, and it's one of the things I enjoyed most," she added. 

Under new maps released by a judicial panel placed in charge of redistricting, Bachmann will now reside in Minnesota Congressional District 4, which includes much of the eastern Metro area and St. Paul. That combines with the old District 4, which Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat, has represented since she was the first elected to it in 2000. 

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The lines change in 2013.

Bachmann said in an interview with Associated Press and Minnesota Public Radio last spring she would fight for the seat.

"I'll continue my service to the people in the district where I essentially went to junior high, high school, college, had my babies born and we built our business and we have our church and our family."

Congressional rerepsentatives do not have to live in their district, which means she doesn't have to move from her and husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann's home near Stillwater to somehwere in the newly drawn District 6.

Bachmann is not technically considered an incumbent, since it is a new district for several communities on the west side of the metro.

The new District 6 increases its representation to the west and south, including many old areas from Bachmann's current district but adding areas to the south. An entire map of the new Congressional Districts in the metro area can be found on the Minnesota Courts Website.


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