Radinovich Loses Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District

Former State Representative Joe Radinovich loses in the race against Pete Stauber and Ray "Skip" Sandman.

BAXTER, Minn. – DFL candidate Joe Radinovich and supporters held their heads high despite losing the race for 8th congressional district in Minnesota.

“We set about on this campaign 9 months ago we had a message and that message was that it’s working people that matter most in the face of the changes we’re seeing in this country,” Radinovich said to the room of roughly a hundred supporters who came and went throughout the night–working people.

The night started with high spirits–a screen everywhere you turned– showing the neck and neck race between the election front runners.

Family members and supporters of Randinovich’s campaign, like former congressman Rick Nolan hoping for a last minute pull through.

“People need to start coming together, listening to one another. That’s how you find the common ground. That’s how you get things done. That’s what people really want,” Nolan said.

But as precincts came in, Radinovich began falling behind. The 4th generation iron ranger praised the democratic sweep across the state, but said though his speech was not a concession, he felt doubtful of the final outcome.

“Hundreds of people across this district in places like Brainerd, and places like Duluth, on the iron range, saw those ads and instead of running away from us, what they did was they came here with us,” Radinovich said.

Through tears he thanked his supporters for sticking by his side, despite the light he said he was put in by Stauber and the supposed 7 million dollars that went into slanderous campaign ads.

“We know that even if it’s a loss, that we are not defeated. That the things that we stands for are not defeated. That the ideals that we hold are not defeated, that the values that we stand for are not defeated,” Radinovich said his goodbye’s from the election party before final results were in, but not without a hopeful goodnight. “We are going to get back up, and we are going to keep fighting because our community requires it, because our state requires it, because our country requires it.”