Last Saturday, May 9, the Democratic-Farmer-Laborer (DFL) party held their endorsing convention for Congressional District 2 (CD-2). I’ve been following this election in my column since the first debate between the three candidates, and the way the primary has evolved over the last couple of months is a perfect example of the strengths and flaws of our electoral system.
After all the votes were tallied, progressive lawyer and former Lakeville mayor Matt Little received above the 60% of the vote required to win the endorsement from the DFL, which includes access to the party’s network of volunteers, campaign funding, and other institutional backing. Little has not won the primary yet, but he will enter with the definite advantage.
The main concern, for him and for other Democrats, is that he still has to win a competitive primary. Neither Matt Klein or Kaela Berg, the other frontrunners, are going to abide by the results of the endorsement and drop out of the race. Both will continue to run what is now an insurgent campaign until August, when the primary happens.
This should be a concern to DFLers around the district and the state for a number of reasons. While it is neither unprecedented nor unusual for candidates who fail to secure the endorsement to continue in the race, it is damaging to both party unity and the candidate that ends up winning the primary. It also begs the question: If you weren’t going to abide by the results of the endorsement if you lost, why even run? Berg and Klein both have their own explanations for why they will continue to run, which I will address.
No one is contesting that CD-2 is one of the most important seats in the country for Democrats, and one that has a history of being close. Although Angie Craig won the seat by her largest margin yet in 2024, we cannot afford to take the seat for granted, especially given the recent blow to the Voting Rights Act. With many southern states planning to gerrymander as many seats as possible for Republicans, every seat matters.
Berg and Klein are entering this primary fighting an uphill battle without the party backing Little will have. Since Little is the endorsed candidate, the way Berg and Klein are going to gain ground on him is through attacks. While this could give them the nomination, those attacks will not disappear after the primary. If Little wins, his victory leaves the Democratic party in a weaker position going into what will likely be a competitive general election. Worse, Republicans have already organized around their candidate, Eric Pratt, who is relishing the prospect of a divided DFL.
There’s also a deeper question that underpins this whole situation, and it revolves around the participation and acceptance in the democratic process as a whole. When I see candidates who run for an endorsement, and upon losing, drop out of the endorsement process, I see people who are unwilling to participate in “small-d” democratic systems.
Berg and Klein may disagree with the convention’s decisions; they are allowed to do that. They can believe that they are the best (or perhaps only) candidate to win the general election and govern in this seat. But Berg and Klein only represent two votes out of the hundreds of thousands of people in CD-2. The delegates, chosen from a pool of thousands, had the opportunity to hear from the candidates several times, and by far, they decisively chose Matt Little.
The essence of democracy is to accept the results of elections, and while the endorsing convention is not an election in the traditional sense, refusing to drop out raises the question of why candidates participate in the process. By not dropping out, a candidate signals that what happens there doesn’t actually matter, devaluing the hours that people spent organizing and the decisions made.
Matt Klein has defended his decision in the same way he used to build up his campaign thus far: by calling himself electable. He stated that “the broader primary electorate understands issues like electability.” Apparently, misunderstanding electability is something Klein himself struggles with as well, considering he received the lowest number of votes in the convention — less than a quarter of what Little received.
Kaela Berg’s thought process is perhaps more understandable. In a recent Instagram post, she explained her reasons: “throughout this convention process, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Minnesotans who couldn’t afford to be there — people working shifts, caring for kids, or still too afraid to leave their homes. Those are the people I’m fighting for, and that fight doesn’t end here.”
I would agree with Berg with her general criticisms of the convention system. I’ve been to them, and for the most part, it’s long periods of nothing happening followed by boring paperwork. I think that this is one of the biggest issues we have to face internally as the DFL.
I, however, don’t think this means we should be participating only when it is convenient for us. The Democratic Party is not immune to the democratic backsliding we have seen at a national level, and we must fight authoritarianism by building up and improving our systems, not ignoring them.
The most important thing we can do right now is move forwards as a party and present a unified front. Living in this district and world, we are left with no other choice.