By Josh Moniz, The Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — U.S. Rep. Tim Walz emerged victorious Tuesday, fending off a challenge by Republican candidate Jim Hagedorn despite 2014 being a challenging election for Democrats.

Walz captured about 54 percent, or 123,149 votes, compared to Hagedorn’s roughly 46 percent, or 103,954 votes.

In Mower County, Walz received 7,434 votes (about 63 percent) to Hagedorn’s 4,3571 (about 38.5 percent).

In his victory speech, Walz said he continues to push for bipartisan compromise in Congress. He also congratulated Hagedorn on running a tough campaign.

Walz said he plans to push hard for a new federal transportation bill, comprehensive immigration reform and his veteran suicide prevention bill when he returns to Congress.

“I’m willing to compromise,” Walz said. “Let’s get something done for the American people.”

Hagedorn said he was disappointed with the election’s results, but he felt proud about how many residents he was able to meet across the district.

“We felt we ran a very strong race. The (Republican) wave we thought was going to hit just wasn’t there,” Hagedorn said.

He said he did not know if he would run for political office in the 1st District in the future. But he said he plans to continue to help fellow Republicans going into the future.

Competitive race

The 1st District voters saw many twists and turns this year in the election race.

Hagedorn, a Blue Earth resident and former U.S. Treasury official, focused his campaign on criticizing Walz on health care, energy policy and immigration.

He initially lost the endorsement race to first-time Republican candidate Aaron Miller of Byron but later defeated him in a close August primary battle, gaining statewide attention for his extensive campaigning.

Walz, a former Mankato teacher, faced a tougher re-election this year because of backlash against Democrats on the troubled rollout of the federal Affordable Care Act. He focused on running a low-profile campaign that emphasized his work passing the STOCK Act and the new federal Farm Bill. He also pushed new legislation aimed at helping veterans.

Walz dominated Hagedorn in fundraising by raising $1.4 million, more than seven times the $203,151 raised by Hagedorn, according to the FEC fundraising reports covering the election up to Oct. 10.

Additional, the FEC 24-hour reports for major donations since Oct. 10 shows Walz raised an additional $72,000. Hagedorn raised an additional $16,250.

Hagedorn self-funded 25 percent of his total fundraising. He also received 7 percent of his donations from the regional Fitzsimmons family and employees related to their agricultural business Protein Solutions. Walz received over 40 percent of his funds from PACs, with most PAC funds coming from unions.

—Distributed by MCT Information Services a