Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills won support of 53 percent of delegates on the first ballot at the Minnesota Republican Party state convention in St. Cloud.
Bills needs 60 percent of the delegates to secure the nomination, but it was a remarkably strong showing for the first ballot.
Bills, a state House member, and Pete Hegseth and Dan Severson are vying for the endorsement and the chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat.
Severson got 23 percent and Hegseth got 21 percent of the vote.
Delegates cast 2,135 ballots. A candidate needs 1,281 votes to win the endorsement.
