Here’s a story you won’t hear from any other media source…
One of the more interesting endorsement challenges to emerge in the 2024 election season is a contest between newcomer Rick Stidger and sitting Republican State Rep Jon Koznick. Koznick has been at odds with many conservatives over the years, including door knocking against liberty champion Erik Mortensen in the 2022 Republican Primary.
This past weekend, Senate District 57 held an endorsing convention at Lakeville South High School and gave its endorsement to Jon Koznick. Even the House Republican Campaign Committee acknowledged this in a tweet on Saturday. However, it appears this endorsing convention was held illegitimately according to sources involved in a cross political boundary dispute and may be breaking state law.
Congressional District 2 (CD2) GOP sent out a call for a House District 57A endorsing convention for Saturday, March 16th. According to the Republican Party of Minnesota Constitution (Article V, Section 3, F.2.), the authority to call an endorsing convention for a legislative district that crosses BPOU (Basic Political Organizational Unit) lines, but lies wholly within a Congressional District is with the Congressional District 2 Executive Committee. House District 57A is split between two BPOUs: SD57 & Scott County GOP. According to CD2 Chairman, Joe Ditto, the CD2 Executive Committee voted on February 23rd that March 16th would be the date of the endorsing convention and on February 27th, at the Lakeville and Scott County precinct caucuses, CD2 issued a proper call and delivered them in person to newly elected delegates.
This whole matter arose when there was a dispute between SD57 and Scott County GOP BPOUs on when to hold the convention, according to our sources. Of the 12 precincts in House District 57A, four precincts are in Scott County’s jurisdiction and eight are within SD57’s. As mentioned above, the MNGOP’s Constitution has a section on how to deal with these disputes, and from our perspective, the CD2 GOP followed the rules when making the endorsing convention call.
At the precinct caucus in Lakeville on February 27th, individuals attempted to distribute an illegitimate convention call for a March 9th convention to various precincts. Late that night, the same individuals from SD57 delivered a signed petition to the CD2 chair via email. Article V, Section 3, F.4. of the MNGOP Constitution does give authority to a “majority of” precinct chairs to “sign a petition requesting an endorsing convention and specifying the convener.” It’s unclear if the petition contained a majority of newly elected precinct chairs.
Here’s the problem…the endorsing convention for 57A had already been called and delegates were notified on precinct caucus night of the convention. It’s a mystery if they believed this action would nullify a convention that already had been properly called or they just wanted to muddy up the situation because Koznick was facing a tough challenge.
The CD2 Chair never issued a call for a March 9th convention, although in a conversation with me, Chairman Joe Ditto was wiling to work with SD57’s BPOU on it. Instead, they unilaterally made the call. Which means duly elected delegates in the four Scott County precincts did not receive the call. Which is the reason the rule states the Congressional District chair has to make the call – that individual has the lists of delegates for the two BPOUs.
To win a GOP endorsement, a candidate must receive 60% of the voting delegates at an endorsing convention. In Minnesota, endorsed Republican candidates usually win the August primary and go on to face other parties in the November elections. So the stakes are pretty high here.
There’s actually a big issue at hand for those asserting Koznick is the Republican endorsed candidate. MN State Statute 211B.02 states a person or candidates “may not knowingly make, directly or indirectly, a false claim stating or implying that a candidate or ballot question has the support or endorsement of a major political party.”
The Chair of the Scott County GOP attended the March 9th Lakeville convention for the purpose of addressing the body of delegates and inform SD 57 and Rep Jon Koznick that the convention was held illegitimately and mentions of an endorsement from the convention would be in violation of State Statute 211B.02.
Will this matter? If Rick Stidger wins the endorsement this Saturday from the legitimately called convention, it’s not only a huge hit to Jon Koznick for losing support of Republican delegates, but it also means those who say Koznick is the endorsed candidate are violating the law.
We’ll keep you informed of the results of the Saturday convention.
