GOP businessman wins primary to face Franken in Minnesota

Businessman Mike McFadden (R) has won his Senate primary, as expected, and will face Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) this fall.

{mosads}The Associated Press has called the race for McFadden, who had already won his state party’s nomination at a convention earlier this year. He led Minnesota state Sen. Jim Abeler (R) by 75 to 14 percent with 28 percent of precincts reporting.

Republicans are excited about McFadden’s candidacy — they gave him the Republican weekly address last week and have touted his campaign. But Franken is considered the favorite in the race — he’s led in all public polling, at times by double digits.

McFadden had $1.4 million in cash on hand and Franken had $4.3 million as of July 23.

McFadden attacked Franken after his win.

“Minnesotans feel like President Obama and Sen. Franken have done nothing but take our country in the wrong direction,” McFadden said in a statement. “I believe there’s a way to get our country back onto the path of growth and prosperity. It begins with electing a problem solver who can unite this state and go to Washington to clean up the mess created by the Obama-Franken agenda.”

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) congratulated McFadden on his win.

“On issue after issue, ObamaCare to education, spending to debt, Senator Franken has been a loyal Obama foot soldier even when the policy hurts Minnesotans,” Moran said in a statement. “Mike McFadden is a competent, strong leader and a thoughtful problem solver.”

Democrats fired back.

“Sen. Al Franken’s bipartisan record of results in the Senate and his campaign’s powerful grassroots operation puts him in a strong position for reelection,” said state party chairman Ken Martin. “In contrast, embattled Republican investment banker Mike McFadden is wrong for Minnesota and has taken a series of wildly out of touch policy positions that have put him on defense with Minnesota voters.”

This post was updated at 11 p.m.