Doron Clark won the crowded special DFL primary election Tuesday for the Minnesota Senate seat covering northeastern Minneapolis in Hennepin County, almost assuring his place at the State Capitol in the coming weeks.

Clark won 38% of votes, beating the next best candidate Monica Meyer, who had almost 35% of the votes in in the DFL race.

In the Jan. 28 general election, Clark will go against Republican Abigail Wolters, who beat out one challenger with 72% of votes.

At stake is breaking the 33-33 tie in the Minnesota Senate, but the seat is in a solidly Democratic district. A total of 5,436 votes were cast in the DFL primary Tuesday, compared to just 212 in the Republican primary.

The winner will succeed Sen. Kari Dziedzic, who died from ovarian cancer at age 62 in December. She held the seat since 2012.

Clark chaired the Senate District 60 DFL for two years and was the party's endorsed candidate. He works in the ethics department at Medtronic.

Wolters, a software engineer, was endorsed by the Minneapolis Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Meyer, the political director at Gender Justice, earned an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. Peter Wagenius, the legislative and political director for Sierra Club Minnesota, finished third among DFLers with 23% of the vote. He was endorsed by state Attorney General Keith Ellison.

While both parties continue fighting over control of the Minnesota House as another special election is underway, members of the state Senate convened as normal Tuesday, despite the temporary 33-33 tie.

The two parties will share control of committees and of the Senate floor until the District 60 seat is filled.