Star Tribune
Tuesday’s election results will reveal who controls the Minnesota House
The contest played out largely in the fastest-growing Twin Cities suburbs and exurbs such as Lake Elmo, Shakopee, Lakeville, Chanhassen and Blaine, as well as in St. Cloud, Duluth and the college towns of Winona and St. Peter.
Early results from St. Peter and North Mankato had Republican Erica Schwartz leading incumbent DFLer Jeff Brand, who has served two nonconsecutive terms representing District 18A. The seat has swung between the two parties for the past two election cycles.
DFL Rep. Gene Pelowski’s retirement after serving 38 years shook up the race for House District 26A, which includes the college town of Winona. FairVote MN’s Sarah Kruger ran as the DFLer against Winona City Council Member Aaron Repinski. Pelowski won comfortably in 2022, and Biden carried the district by 10 points in 2020, but Republicans said the area is trending conservative.
GOP Rep. Mark Wiens won the House District 41A seat in Lake Elmo and Afton by just 128 votes in 2022, and is retiring after one term. Former St. Paul police officer and DFLer Lucia Wroblewski ran for the seat against Republican Wayne Johnson, a former Washington County commissioner.
House District 54A in Shakopee is held by DFL Rep. Brad Tabke, the former Shakopee mayor, who ran against Aaron Paul, a Bloomington police officer. Tabke was one of a small bipartisan group of legislators leading a push to legalize sports betting in Minnesota, so his political fate could have dimensions much larger than his suburban district.
In House District 57B in Lakeville, Republican Rep. Jeff Witte ran for re-election in a district that sits smack in the middle of the Second Congressional District. That larger contest has meant both parties pumped resources into the area. Brian Cohn, a political newcomer, was the DFL’s nominee. President Joe Biden carried the district in 2020.
Minnesota has not gone for a Republican candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972.
Six congressional incumbents in Minnesota easily won back their House seats.
As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Republican Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber won re-election, along Democrats Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar.
The race in Minnesota’s Fourth District, between DFL Rep. Betty McCollum and Republican May Lor Xiong, had not been called as of 11:30 p.m.
For the second time in her career running for U.S. Senate, Amy Klobuchar is outperforming the Democratic presidential candidate.
As of 11:30 p.m., Klobuchar earned nearly 83,000 more votes than Harris, despite Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz running as her vice president nominee.
Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson and Justice Karl Procaccini both held commanding leads early Wednesday in the only two contested races on the state’s high court.
Throughout the whole statewide judiciary, only nine sitting judges were up for election against challengers, and some of those races were too close to call as 1 a.m. approached. Six of the contests involved district court judges in the Twin Cities, central Minnesota and up north.
On the state’s Court of Appeals, incumbent Judge Diane Bratvold was leading comfortably over challenger Jonathan Woolsey of Chaska. She began serving on the Appeals Court in 2016 and was elected to a six-year term in 2018.
Hudson, appointed as the court’s first Black chief justice last fall, was challenged by Stephen Emery, who has run for multiple offices. With 87% of precincts reporting, she garnered 63.5% of the vote. Hudson served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court since 2015 and previously served 13 years on the state’s Court of Appeals.
Procaccini, appointed in August 2023 by Gov. Tim Walz, was running against lawyer Matthew R. Hanson, who two years ago ran unsuccessfully against Scott County Judge Charles Webber. Procaccini served as general counsel to Walz for four years beginning in 2019, helping the governor navigate the pandemic.
Hanson stressed in his campaign that he would be independent from the governor’s office. With 83% of precincts reporting, he drew 43% of votes to 57% for Procaccini.
Supreme Court Justice Anne McKeig, first appointed in 2016 and elected in 2018, was on the ballot without opposition.
In the Tenth Judicial District, Judge Helen Brosnahan held a lead in her first election after being appointed to the bench by Walz in 2022. Her challenger, Nathan Hansen, is a solo practitioner who received Republican party assistance as the party’s recommended candidate. The Tenth Judicial District covers Anoka, Washington, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Pine, Sherburne and Wright counties.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz were poised to win Minnesota’s electoral votes on Tuesday, but there was little to celebrate as a path to nationwide victory looked narrow.
Neither Harris-Walz nor former President Donald Trump and running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, spent much time campaigning in the state. Republicans had pledged to turn Minnesota red for the first time since 1972, but polls consistently showed Harris-Walz with a slim but steady lead.
Late into the evening Tuesday, the returns looked far less promising for the Democrats.
If elected, Harris would be the first female president and Walz would be the third Minnesotan elected to the vice presidency.
Harris and Walz ran a compressed campaign as she tapped him for the ticket in early August shortly after President Joe Biden stepped aside and just before the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Walz sought to join Minnesota’s favorite sons, the late vice presidents Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey, who served, respectively, with former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson.
Voting in north Minneapolis Tuesday, Joseph Thomas, 39, said he chose Harris and cited equality, help with housing and taxes as issues he cared about most. He also liked that Harris could be the first female president: “That was a big deal, too,” he said.
At Martin Luther King Recreation Center in St. Paul, Kate Kulzer walked her dog, a Catahoula leopard dog named Rhubarb, and dropped her fiancé off to vote about an hour before polls closed. Kulzer had voted for Harris earlier in the day – but she considered it a vote against Trump.
