U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s firebrand liberal with a national prominence, decided not to run for re-election Tuesday and instead dived into a crowded race for state attorney general.

That was the top notable development as Democrats scrambled to file for office in a chaotic rush that gave even seasoned observers a case of politico-vertigo-whiplash as the deadline for filing approached Tuesday.

Republicans sought to shine a spotlight on what state House Speaker Kurt Daudt called a trending “DFL dumpster fire” that began over the weekend when three-term Democrat Attorney General Lori Swanson failed to lock up the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in the first ballot and suddenly dropped out, announcing Monday she was running for governor instead.

Whether the flurry of activity will have any real bearing on how Democrats and Republicans fare as a whole in November’s general election is anyone’s guess.

But the turn of events will certainly mean busy primary campaigns for a number of key seats currently held by Democrats in a year when the party hopes to maintain the control it has over every statewide office.

It’s OK if you couldn’t keep up. We’ll break it down.

ELLISON: FIGHT MUSLIM BAN

Ellison, who was elected to Congress in 2007 and serves as deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also has the distinction of being the first Muslim elected to Congress.

President Donald Trump’s policies related to Muslims or immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries are among the reasons Ellison cited for deciding to run statewide — an undoubtedly more challenging proposition than winning the liberal Minneapolis-based 5th Congressional District he currently serves.

“It was attorneys general who led the fight against the Muslim ban,” Ellison said after filing to run for the office, referring to Trump’s ban on travel to the U.S. by visitors from several Muslim-majority countries. “I want to be a part of that fight.”

ILHAN OMAR, OTHERS JUMP IN

A deluge of notable DFLers jumped in to succeed Ellison on Tuesday. They are: former House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher; state Sen. Bobby Joe Champion; state Sen. Patricia Torres Ray; state Rep. Ilhan Omar; Minneapolis Board of Education Member Kim Ellison, who was married to Keith Ellison until 2012; and former state Sen. Julie Sabo, daughter of Martin Sabo, who held the seat before Ellison.

If it holds, that primary ticket for Democratic voters in August will be diverse. Omar, also a Muslim, was the first Somali-American to be elected to a state legislature in the United States. Anderson Kelliher is white. Champion is African-American. Torres Ray is Latina. Kim Ellison is African-American. Sabo is white. Jamal Abdi Abdulahia, a DFL activist who is also Somali-American, also filed.

On the Republican side, Bob “Again” Carney Jr., Christopher Chamberlain and Jennifer Zielinski filed.

ATTORNEY GENERAL SCRAMBLE

Ellison is hardly alone in seeking to succeed Swanson. A deluge of notable DFLers have jumped in.

They are: former Attorney General Mike Hatch; state Rep. Debra Hillstrom of Brooklyn Park; former Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman; former four-term Ramsey County Attorney Tom Foley; and Northfield native Matt Pelikan.

Hatch has said he plans to drop out. Pelikan won the DFL endorsement after Swanson dropped out; none of the other candidates had even announced they were running at the time.

State Rep. Ryan Winkler, who had previously announced a campaign, didn’t actually file for attorney general.

The Republican side is simpler — but also got interesting Tuesday.

Attorney and Eagan native Doug Wardlow won his party’s endorsement over the weekend and was the lone candidate of note until Tuesday, when 87-year-old Bob Lessard filed.

Lessard, a longtime maverick state lawmaker known as the “Old Trapper,” was first elected to the state Senate in 1977 as a conservative DFLer from International Falls.

Lessard switched to Independent in 2000 and was elected as a member of the Independence Party in 2001. The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council was named partly in Lessard’s honor.

Perennial candidate Sharon Anderson has also filed.

Wardlow wasted no time Tuesday in going after Ellison as the leader of what Wardlow called an “Extreme Team” of DFL candidates.

“Keith Ellison supports open borders, meaning he does not support the laws America currently has in place,” Wardlow said in a statement. “How can he be the state’s top law enforcement official if he is unwilling to enforce our immigration laws?”

GOVERNOR

Primaries for both parties will be noteworthy. Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, isn’t running for re-election.

Republicans: Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Eagan filed with current Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach of Paynesville as his running mate. Fischbach’s status is a bit of an oddity — the former state Senate president became lieutenant governor automatically after Dayton appointed his lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Al Franken resigned amid allegations from multiple women of sexually inappropriate behavior.

The Pawlenty-Fischbach ticket will be up against Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson — the official GOP-endorsed candidate — and his running mate, Donna Bergstrom of Duluth, in the August primary.

Democrats: Three-way primary. State Rep. Erin Murphy of St. Paul won the DFL endorsement and selected state Rep. Erin Maye Quade of Apple Valley as her running mate. They’ll face the ticket of U.S. Rep. Tim Walz and running mate state Rep. Peggy Flanagan of St. Louis Park, as well as Attorney General Lori Swanson and her running mate, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, who had previously announced he would retire from his 8th Congressional District seat.

PUNCHLINE: The ticket of the “Erins” is trying to stave off an Election Day battle of the “Tims.”

MAJOR ELECTION YEAR

This is all about about who’s running for office in what promises to be a major election season for the entire state.

Tuesday was the last day to file, so the dust has now settled. Well, in theory. No one new can enter a race, but candidates can still drop out through Thursday.

Primaries for each major party will be held Aug. 14, and the general election will be Nov. 6.

Pretty much every office will be on the ballot, except state Senate.

That includes: Governor and lieutenant governor, both U.S. Senate seats, all eight U.S. House seats, secretary of state, attorney general, state auditor and every state House seat.

For all candidates, go to the Minnesota secretary of state’s website under candidate filings.

OTTO OUT — BUT WITH COOKIES

Late Tuesday afternoon, State Auditor Rebecca Otto — who had sought the DFL endorsement for governor — strolled into the secretary of state’s office, prompting a pack of reporters to hustle up alongside her.

She wasn’t filing for anything. She laid out two boxes of cookies, telling reporters they weren’t paid for with campaign funds.

Chris Magan and Bill Salisbury contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.