Amy Klobuchar, Kurt Bills to Face Off for U.S. Senate Seat; John Kline Sails Through Primary

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In other races for state and national offices there also were on ballots:

Congressional District 2

Rep. John Kline, R-Lakeville, sailed through the primary election Tuesday night to advance to the Nov. 6 election and a bid for his sixth term in office.

With all 291 precincts reporting, Kline handily beat Minneapolis engineer David Gerson 15,859 votes to 2,772, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State website.

Kline will next face former Democratic state Rep. Mike Obermueller for the Second Congressional District seat.

In April, . For years, Kline has been a safe bet during election season, churning out double-digit election wins every cycle. Kline has held the seat since 2002.

But after this year's Congressional redistricting, the new Second District now includes DFL-leaning portions of northern Dakota County, as well as southern Washington County, and doesn't include Republican strongholds such as Carver County.

Obermueller, an Eagan resident, had no primary opponent.

U.S. Senate

Sen. Amy Klobuchar handily won the U.S. Senate DFL primary, with nearly 91 percent of the vote against three other DFL challengers.

Among Republicans, she will face endorsed Kurt Bills, a Rosemount resident, whose primary was a bit closer than pundits expected. Bills received 51.33 percent of the vote, while David Carlson followed with 35.21 percent.

Stephen Williams won the vote for the Independence Party, with nearly 60 percent over Glen R. Anderson Menze.

Minnesota Judicial Races

The two top candidates in each nonpartisan race move forward to the November 2012 election. With the majority of state precincts reporting, as of 9 a.m. Wednesday:

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice

In the Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice race, incumbent Lorie Skjerven Gildea along with Dan Griffith will move forward to the general election. Skjerven Gildea received nearly 50 percent of the votes, Griffith received about 29 percent of the votes. Jill Clark came in third with approximately 20 percent of the votes.

Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Seat 4

In the Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Seat 4 race, incumbent David Stras as well as Tim Tingelstad will move forward to the general election. David Stras received about 49 percent of the votes, Tingelstad received approximately 29 percent of the votes. Alan Nelson came in third with about 21percent of the vote.