Democrats flip medtech-heavy Minnesota House seats

Democratic candidates flipped a pair of Minnesota congressional seats with heavy medical device industry constituencies in the mid-term elections yesterday. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) defeated incumbent Erik Paulsen, a longtime supporter of the North Star State’s huge medtech cluster who led numerous attempts to repeal the medical device tax. The 48-year-old liquor heir carried Minnesota’s Third District by 56% to 44%, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, marking the first time since 1961 that the district is represented by a Democrat. Paulsen won the seat by 14 points in 2016 and by 25 points in 2014. Medtech veteran Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who spent 10 years with St. Jude Medical as an HR exec and also held positions with Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN), won her challenge to right-wing talk show host and incumbent Jason Lewis in the Second District race, by 53% to 47%. The duo ran a very close race in 2016, with Lewis winning by less than two points. In the race to represent Minnesota in the Upper Chamber, incumbent Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) cruised to an easy 60%-to-36% win over Republican challenger Jim Newberger; Legal Marijuana Now party candidate Dennis Schuller pulled in 3% of the vote, with Green Party candidate Paula Overby capturing 1%. And Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), appointed to replace Al Franken after his resignation over sexual improprieties, beat the GOP’s candidate for junior senator, Karin Housley, by 53% to 42%, acco...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business/Financial News Featured Capitol Hill Source Type: news