The results are not official but it appears that unless Jeremy Munson can convince election officials to find 389 votes, Brad Finstad will be the MNGOP primary winner.

Oh, so close …. too bad that J R Ewing was on the Republican ballot … his ninth place finish of 157 votes would have helped.

Worse yet, Jeremy Munson, an investor in cryptocurrency had fellow cryptocurrency-investor, Kevin Kocina on the ballot … Kocina received 986 votes.

Instead both Munson and Kocina apparently have lost to the candidate that international cryptocurrency tycoon, Ryan Salame and his American Dream Federal Action PAC backed — Brad Finstad. FEC reporting indicates that Salame’s “dream” candidate received $1,249,676.98 in TV ads and mailings. Based on Finstad getting 13,835 votes that’s over $90 per vote.

Finstad also benefited from “independent expenditures” authorized by Americans For Prosperity Action … the Koch-backed PAC … for another $208,791.28. And if that was not enough “dark money”, the Defending Main Street SuperPAC, authorized $915,787.90.

So between those three PAC, Finstad received $171.63 per vote in “independent expenditures”.

Now these expenditures by non-Minnesotans to influence out elections may seem unfair … but in the post-Citizens United world, it just means that ya gotta hope that other billionaires decide to fund your campaign.

And that what happened for Jeremy Munson … with Richard Uihlein, the Wisconsin-based box king (Uline) and Robert and Kim Marling, the Texas banker, who funded the House Freedom Action PAC with $470,000 … enough to provide the Munson For Congress campaign with $131,288.59 of TV and mailing.

But that was not Munson largest “independent expenditure” contributor … that is Rand Paul’s Protect Freedom Political Action Committee which authorized $1,382,896.36.

Based on Munson’s 13,447 votes, those two PAC spent $109.45 per vote in a losing effort.

And that was only for the primary …. and does not count how much the Finstad For Congress and Munson For Congress campaigns spent themselves.

While Minnesota First District voters are thinking about the economy, the Ukraine-Russia war, gun violence and their savings, Social Security, and retirement funds, at least a few individuals are focused on picking the Best Congress Money Can Buy … and the winner is Brad Finstad.