2024′s polarizing election cycle ended with Minnesotans favoring Vice President Kamala Harris for president and re-electing Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. While those statewide results support the state’s reputation for favoring Democrats, a county-level analysis of several key races since 2012 challenges the notion that Minnesota voters choose person over party at the voting booth.

Only 12 counties in 2024 saw the majority of their voters cast split-ticket ballots for president and U.S. Senate. That’s down from 57 counties in 2012, suggesting the gradual disappearance of the moderate, bipartisan voter.

The charts below visualize this trend across three major election cycles by plotting the margins of victory for top ballot races against the corresponding Senate contest by county. Counties in yellow voted for different-party candidates for U.S. Senate and either president or governor.

Even as Minnesotans overall voted to re-elect Klobuchar, 30 counties flipped to support Republican Senate contender Royce White over Klobuchar.

Despite the red wave, Klobuchar had one of the strongest performances among Democratic Senate candidates across the country. She was one of the top two who outperformed Harris, behind Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who lost his re-election bid to Republican Tim Sheehy.

Of Minnesota’s 87 counties, 75 featured a majority vote for either Harris and Klobuchar or presidential contender Donald Trump and White. Counties in the metro area and Arrowhead largely supported the pair of Democrats, while many of the state’s remaining counties reported same-party ballots favoring Trump and White.

Just 12 counties supported split-ticket ballots of both Trump and Klobuchar, among them Anoka, Carver and Scott counties. Norman County, north of the Moorhead area, had the largest margin for Trump — more than 20 points — while still also voting for Klobuchar by a slim margin. No counties reported majority ballots for Harris and White.

Just six years ago — the last time Klobuchar was on the ballot, albeit not in a presidential election year — a far greater number of counties saw support for split-ticket choices in the gubernatorial and Senate races.

During public comment periods on the park plan, officials heard from residents who urged them to allow dogs off leash throughout the park, saying it provides a crucial exercise opportunity for both the animals and their humans. Others said they’d had problems with dog bites or dogs running into neighboring yards.

“We’ve heard from residents all over the city that they do go to Purgatory [Park] for the beautiful nature and to let their dogs run off leash,” said Matt Kumka, the city’s park and trail project manager. And, he added, “We heard that some folks did have unwanted interactions with dogs at times.”

In a meeting late last month, council members began discussing whether they want to allow retractable leashes and, if so, if they should max out at 6 feet long or 20 feet. Council Member Deb Calvert suggested retractable leashes could be especially helpful for older adults, who might not be able to walk as fast or far as other dog owners.

“They’re losing what was their dog park, and I feel like we need to toss a proverbial bone in their direction,” Calvert said during the council meeting last month.

The council also appears poised to create an advisory group to help decide which areas of the park should be open to off-leash dogs and whether those spots should be marked by signs or fences.

If the mayor and council approve the new proposals, Kumka said officials don’t necessarily expect an increase in citations but that “it would improve clarity regarding the expectations of behavior and a bit more of an opportunity to provide education for the folks in the parks.”

This was the second time in roughly the past 17 months that Griffen has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. In July 2023, he was stopped in Chanhassen and accused of driving 60 mph in a 40 mph zone. His blood-alcohol content was 0.09%. Griffen pleaded guilty to a reduced careless driving charge in February and was placed on a year’s probation.

In the months following that allegation, Griffen crashed his car into a fence and gazebo in Mound on Oct. 28, 2023. He was cited and convicted of failure to drive with due care, a petty misdemeanor. On Dec. 7, 2023, in Shakopee, police stopped Griffen for driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone. He was convicted of a petty misdemeanor in that case as well.

Griffen called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. from his Minnetrista home on Nov. 24, 2021, saying someone was with him, and he needed help. He also told the dispatcher he fired one round from a gun, but no one was wounded, police said. They added no intruder was found.

The same day, Griffen had posted, then deleted, a video on Instagram saying people were trying to kill him as he held a gun in his hand. He was alone inside the house, with police outside, until he emerged and agreed to be taken for treatment.

Griffen also spent four weeks undergoing mental health treatment in 2018 after two incidents that September — one at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, the other at his home — that prompted police involvement. He later revealed he lived in a sober house for the remainder of the 2018 season.