Associated Press
CHASKA, Minn. — One of the state Senate’s leading Republicans has been denied a party endorsement to run for reelection to her Carver County seat.
The Star Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/KejO6Y) that neither Sen. Julianne Ortman nor challenger Bruce Schwichtenberg was able to achieve the super majority needed to get the GOP endorsement at their Senate district convention Tuesday night. That means the 10-year Senate veteran from Chanhassen must win an August primary in order to be her party’s candidate in November.
Ortman chairs the powerful Senate Taxes Committee and is also deputy leader of the Republican caucus. Schwichtenberg ran to her right and criticized her as a “career politician.”