Some politicians show some class when they are on their way out, others desperately grasp for relevancy. In the case of RINO State Senator Paul Utke, he has chosen the latter by re-entering the SD5 Senate race with a write-in campaign.

Action 4 Liberty obtained the information of Utke’s write-in campaign through weeks of information requests to the Secretary of State’s office.

After a decade in the Senate, Utke was defeated in the Republican primary by State Rep. Mike Wiener by 192 votes. Utke’s support levels among grassroots conservatives has continued to dip over the years, losing the 2022 MNGOP endorsement for State Senate to conservative Bret Bussman and again in 2026 to Mike Wiener. Utke was only able to hang on in the 2022 primary because then-MNGOP Chair, corrupt David Hann, cut off party data access from Bussman and other endorsed GOP candidates.

Instead of accepting defeat after the 2026 primary, Utke questioned the results. 

Now, Utke is continuing his campaign by running as a write-in option, which would seemingly detract exclusively from Republican nominee Mike Wiener’s vote share. See Utke on list of registered write-in candidates below:

Also seen above are other candidates who lost the legislative primary election but are choosing to continue their campaigns. This includes Republicans Paul Utke (SD5), Aaron Brutger (SD13), and Yelena Kurdyumova (38A) and Democrats Natasha Bennett (SD65) and Shelly Carlson (4A). A source in 38A tells A4L that Kurdyumova is a secret Democrat. 

There is no online presence of Utke’s write-in campaign, which may suggest that he has no goal of winning, instead just serving as a protest vote.

When conservative candidate, now CD7 MNGOP Executive Committeeman Nathan Miller, ran a write-in campaign for State Senate, the MNGOP went on the attack! Now that Establishment RINO Paul Utke is doing the write-in campaign, the MNGOP is totally silent!

Utke’s lifetime score in A4L scorecards is a pathetic 45.04% due to his legislative record of giving MN massive debt and supporting unconstitutional, multi-subject, fraud-ridden omnibus bills.

Action 4 Liberty will continue to provide Patriots with liberty-based reporting that cannot be found anywhere else.