Jen Schultz won Tuesday night's House District- 8 Democratic primary in Minnesota, beating out Democratic Farmer-Labor candidate John Munter. She will move on to the General Election, facing off against Republican incumbent Rep. Pete Stauber

Cook Political Report has labeled the 8th Congressional District as "solid" Republican territory. 

Munter of Warba is originally from Albion, New York, and graduated from Duluth East High School and went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1972. According to Ballotpedia, prior to his retirement, he later got a degree from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in 1988, and worked as a writer and at Delta Airlines.

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Jen Schultz of Duluth has lived in Duluth for nearly two decades, teaches economics at the University of Minnesota, and has served in the state legislature for eight years. During her time in the state House, she championed several bills focused on expanding affordable health insurance, increasing wages for personal care assistants, investing in home and community-based services and "closing corporate tax loopholes," according to her website. 

In a primary contest Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrat state Rep. Katrina Shankland was defeated by local business owner Rebecca Cooke, setting up a race to unseat Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in November. 

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL, narrowly defeated Democrat state Sen. Brad Pfaff to flip the seat for the GOP last year after longtime Democrat incumbent Ron Kind chose not to seek reelection. Pfaff has decided not to challenge Van Orden in 2024.

Prior to Van Orden winning the seat in 2022, Wisconsin's 3rd District was represented by Kind for more than two decades. 

The race for the Democrats eventually turned ugly between candidates Cooke and Shankland. The Wisconsin Examiner reported that in the final days of the race, the election became "more combative as outside super PACs have injected money into the race on behalf of Cooke, while Shankland cries foul and touts her experience as a legislator."

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"This is a dramatic shift in tone from the 2022 primary, and that could be for a number of reasons," UW-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky told the Examiner. "One reason could be, I think, Democrats are no doubt fired up about the prospect of defeating Derrick Van Orden, and that means that the opportunity to be the party standard-bearer is a highly coveted opportunity, and so Shankland and Cook have gone negative."