As Omarosa Burns, Minnesota Votes

While Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been on the talk show circuit promoting her new book, which chronicles her short-lived career as a White House adviser to President Donald Trump, threatening to expose him through secret tapes as someone we already suspected he was . . . And while Trump uses unflattering language to describe an African-American woman who was once a contestant on his reality TV show . . . Minnesotans took to the polls and made history, turning out in record numbers for the state's political primaries.

The results from some of the contested races are as follows:

• Jeff Johnson, a former Hennepin County commissioner, scored an upset win over Tim Pawlenty in the GOP gubernatorial primary.  Former Governor Pawlenty lost not just because he flip-flopped on supporting Trump (who has endorsed Johnson), but also because voters didn't want to relive the way he nearly ran this state into the ground economically and otherwise during his two terms in office.
• Johnson will face Congressman Tim Walz, a Democrat (known in Minnesota as the DFL party) who won his primary by being better known in so-called "Greater Minnesota" than his Twin Cities-based opponents, Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Representative Erin Murphy (who was endorsed by outgoing Governor Mark Dayton).  Then again, Swanson didn't help herself by starting late and getting involved in scandals regarding her running mate Rick Nolan and misuse of her staff.
• The U.S. Senate seat that Al Franken had to give up due to a sex scandal will be contested between two women for the first time ever:  DFLer Tina Smith (who was appointed Senator by Governor Dayton) vs. the GOP's Karin Housley.  In other news, Republican Jim Newberger will try his best against DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar, whom nobody really wanted to compete against.
• Keith Ellison will face off against Republican Doug Wardlow for Swanson's state Attorney General job.  But the DFL congressman might be in big trouble if allegations of domestic abuse against his ex-girlfriend stick.
• Ilhan Omer is looking to become the first Somali-American to go to Congress, having won a crowded 5th District DFL primary to succeed Ellison.  Since this is a heavily Democratic district, Republican opponent Jennifer Zialinski has a tough task facing her.

So while the Omarosa circus continues and Paul Manafort's trial reaches its conclusion, Minnesota and voters across the country are proving that democracy still exists.  At least for now.