Republicans and Democrats in Minnesota's 1st District have endorsed candidates for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Tim Walz.

Members of each party met for their endorsing conventions on Saturday — Republicans in Mankato and Democrats in Le Sueur. Republicans endorsed Jim Hagedorn, while Democrats endorsed Dan Feehan.

Hagedorn is a businessman and former federal employee from Blue Earth who narrowly lost to Walz in the 2016 election. The party said delegates on Saturday picked Hagedorn over state Sen. Carla Nelson; Nelson has said she plans to run in the Aug. 14 primary even without the party endorsement.

Feehan is a former Army Ranger and former Defense Department official from Mankato. He won the DFL endorsement on Saturday over several other candidates, including former state Sen. Vicki Jensen, renewable energy lawyer Joe Sullivan and attorney Rich Wright, who also has a military background.

"I am incredibly honored and proud to earn the DFL endorsement for Congress here in the 1st District," Feehan said in a news release. "For the past nine months, we have traveled to all 21 counties in the district ... with a message of service. ... We are running a campaign that puts people over politics, and that offers solutions to our toughest challenges — from health care and climate change, to building an economy that works for all Minnesotans."

Ahead of the DFL convention, Jensen, Sullivan and Wright said they would drop out of the campaign if they didn't get the party's endorsement.

Walz decided to run for governor instead of seeking re-election to the congressional seat representing southern Minnesota. He was first elected to the 1st District seat in 2006.

6th District

In Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, which includes St. Cloud and parts of the northern and western Twin Cities metropolitan area, DFL delegates on Saturday endorsed Ian Todd to take on Republican incumbent Tom Emmer.

Todd was endorsed unanimously. He served in the Air Force as a geospatial intelligence analyst for six years before moving to Minnesota.

"I am extremely honored to be chosen by my party to represent them this November. This has been such a humbling experience and I'm ready to fight to turn CD-6 blue," Todd said in a news release.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.