County Commissioner Jeff Johnson has beaten former Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Minnesota’s Republican primary for governor, derailing Pawlenty’s bid to reclaim his old job.
Johnson won Tuesday despite Pawlenty’s enormous fundraising and name recognition advantages. He also won despite his own history as the party’s losing candidate for governor four years ago.
Johnson positioned himself as a more conservative candidate than Pawlenty. He branded the former two-term governor as part of the “status quo” and bashed him for calling Trump “unhinged and unfit for the presidency” in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election.
Pawlenty was hoping to resurrect his political career after flaming out as a presidential candidate in 2011. He spent the intervening years as a Washington lobbyist.
Pawlenty has gone down on everything but the Titanic…
This is a good result for the people of Minnesota but also will save the rest of the country from another Pawlenty presidential campaign.
It pleases me to see Pawlenty suffer this humiliation. I’m also glad his big-money GOP donors had their cash lit on fire in his losing effort.
Meet the next Democratic governor of Minnesota: Tim Walz. It’s his race to lose at this point.
I am so glad Pawlenty got eliminated this early. He really has been the undead candidate.
If we never hear from him again, it’ll be too soon.
Remember when he was the future of the Republican Party in 2011-12? The candidate of the so-called reformocons and Sams Club Republicans. How things change.