Minnesota Republican state Senator, Bruce Anderson, unexpectedly passed away on July 21st, prompting a special election in SD29. This district is deep red that Anderson won 68% of the vote for in 2022 while maintaining a conservative voting record and being a respectful conservative.

According to the Wright County GOP website, five candidates will be seeking the GOP endorsement taking place tomorrow, Tuesday, August 5th. The five GOP candidates include failed MNGOP deputy chair candidate Kip Christianson, Wright County Commissioner Tina Diedrick, Delano city councilman Jason Franzen, business owner Michael Holmstrom, and Marine Corps veteran Melinda Mihajlov. 

RINO Kip Christianson is a Monticello city councilman and shady political operative who lost against Donna Bergstrom in the race for Deputy Chair of the MNGOP while running in a so-called “unity ticket” with RINO David Hann. In 2020, Kip fooled a blind, wheelchair-bound veteran into getting on the ballot for Congress under a Marijuana-related political third party while being paid by the RNC and was labeled a “political stalker” while being paid by the RINO funded, anti-grassroots MN Jobs Coalition. Kip worked to change the MNGOP platform and the RNC platform to abolish pro-life language, something his district would not approve of. The idea of Kip being elevated to Senator with his stained record (including a DWI) should make him unqualified to conservatives for an office so critical.

Kip also credited David Hann and Globalist RINO Tom Emmer on the Jack Tomczack podcast for getting the MNGOP out of debt when it was truly President Trump speaking at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner since the grassroots refused to support the party under Hann. This is in part due to the 1972-10 Wyoming company that received tens of thousands of dollars that A4L exposed was run by Kamala supporter Michael Brodkorb, who Kip also has a relationship with. Another strange relationship with liberals that Kip has was with Melissa Hortman, who Kip revealed was a friend and mentor to him following her and her husband's high-profile assassinations. Putting Hortman’s horrific death aside, why would an ultra-liberal Democrat Speaker of the House want to “mentor” Kip and what political advice will he follow? Many Republicans may wonder how close Kip is to others in the Democrat Establishment that he is keeping secret.

Establishment puppet Walter Hudson inserted himself into this race by calling Kip his “brother in arms through political trench warfare” and verbally slapped the hand of candidate Melinda Mihajlov for demanding the GOP endorsed candidate for the Senate be a “STRONG Constitutional conservative”. Mihajlov is a Marine Corps veteran and appears to be a standard line conservative but unfortunately looks up to RINOs like Patricia Mueller (23B) passing unconstitutional omnibus bills and may not rock the boat if elected. Interestingly, Melinda Mihajlov has been endorsed by Gonzalo Duran, the Conservative party & Republican nominee for New York City Public Advocate.

Another candidate for Senate, Michael Holmstrom, is a small business owner according to his campaign website and unsuccessfully ran for school board in 2024. Holmstrom is also the Deputy Chair of the Wright County GOP. Many conservatives may hesitate to support Holmstrom due to him being supported by social media addict RINO Dustin Grage, others in the district say not to hold that against him. Holmstrom also lost a County Commissioner race in 2022 which was ultimately won by another Senate candidate, Tina Diedrick.

If voters are looking for an anti-Emmer conservative, they likely won’t find it in Wright County Commissioner Tina Diedrick who poses with RINOs like him and Jim Nash for social media. Locals tell A4L that Establishment Republicans and Democrats supported Diedrick’s run for County Commissioner (since the primary and race is nonpartisan). She is additionally the former mayor of Norwood Young America and is clearly well-versed in government by serving on numerous committees and projects. While Diedrick certainly appears to be a hard worker and very involved in her community, she does not appear to be a hardcore conservative willing to buck party leadership.

The final candidate seeking the GOP endorsement is Delano city councilman Jason Franzen who is also the Wright Co. GOP Treasurer. From what can be gathered from his social media, he appears to be a standard Republican but he unfortunately shares HRCC and other Establishment material. Franzen, like all other candidates mentioned, will have the chance to make his case to the SD29 delegates at the convention.

In addition to the five mentioned candidates, Rachel Davis has filed for office but is not listed as a participant for the endorsement. Reportedly, the Wright Co. GOP alleges that Davis has not lived in the district for at least 6 months which Davis denies. Nora Greteman had a website for a Senate candidacy but the content has since been removed aside from a title saying “Coming Soon” and her campaign logo. The social media accounts linked on the website no longer go to pages so Greteman may have chosen not to run or to run in a primary (as it appears Davis will do and Mihajlov alluded to on X). Additionally, Greteman is the Wright Co. GOP event coordinator, which may have been seen as a conflict of interest if she organized the convention as a candidate.

One Democrat, Louis McNutt, has filed to run for the SD29 special election. Considering Republican Bruce Anderson received 68% of the vote in 2022, any hope for Democrats would be a longshot. 

Candidates and politics aside, there are serious issues with the process of the SD29 special election.

On July 29th, Tim Walz filed a writ of election for SD29 alongside another writ of election for SD47 following Nicole Mitchell FINALLY resigning from the Senate after her jury conviction for burglarizing her widowed-stepmother. Tim Walz scheduled primary election dates of Aug. 26th and a withdrawal deadline of Aug. 7th, giving voters very little time to vet candidates. The general election will take place on Nov. 4th. As A4L has exposed, Walz has a history of breaking special election laws to try to benefit Dems (which was even struck down by the liberal MN Supreme Court). With the timeline and leniency Walz has in scheduling elections while the legislature is not in session, he easily could have scheduled a primary in September or October to give voters more time to vet candidates in their unexpected vacancy. 

In addition, the Wright County GOP perhaps should have followed the routes that Cass, Crow Wing, and Itasca counties did in the SD6 special election by not holding an endorsing convention and allowing candidates to fight it out in a primary. By holding an endorsement on an unexpected short time notice, many delegates may be unable to attend and the process becomes rushed. Small portions of Hennepin and Meeker counties are also in SD29 and sources tell A4L that all delegates from these areas may not have received their required convention call. Of course, the endorsing convention could end with no endorsement resulting in a crowded primary, especially considering it begins at 6PM on a Tuesday night with five candidates. If run corruptly, there will almost certainly be a primary following it.

With the GOP endorsing convention taking place tomorrow (Aug. 5th), we will keep Patriots informed on this race as well as the SD47 special election. We will continue to lead the conservative movement by putting truth and liberty first and be unwavering in our Constitutional, small-government principles.