Good morning, and happy Thursday. The week goes faster when you don’t sleep.
Minnesota Democrats will control the Legislature and the governor’s office come 2023, after they picked up the Capitol “trifecta” on Tuesday.Brian Bakst and Dana Ferguson report as votes were tallied early Wednesday, Democrats edged out Republicans to flip the Minnesota Senate and to retain a majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives. And Gov. Tim Walz won reelection against Republican challenger Scott Jensen. Democrats celebrated the result that they acknowledged was a surprise on Wednesday and Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, called the 34-33 margin a “Minnesota Senate miracle.” DFLers had long insisted they were positioned to keep the House, where their majority of 70 seats is a bit tighter than before the election. But the Senate was seen as more of a reach. And López Franzen said that Democrats took it as a directive from voters that they need to compromise with Republicans at the Capitol. “This is a place where people are measured. They gave us a trifecta with wider margins back in 2012. This one is slimmer,” she said. “That tells us we need to be tempered. But that also tells us they want us to work together.” Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, conceded the Senate majority on Wednesday morning and in a statement said Republicans would “fight for keeping life affordable for working Minnesotans and seniors, safer communities and support for law enforcement, and more opportunities for students to be successful in the classroom and beyond.”
Republicans Jim Schultz and Ryan Wilson conceded their races for attorney general and state auditor to Keith Ellison and Julie Blaha Wednesday. The two DFL incumbents won in squeakers Tuesday, Ellison by fewer than 21,000 votes and Blaha by a bit more than 8,700. Although the race hasn't been called officially for Ellison, "the results are now clear" Schultz said in a statement, adding that he planned to call Ellison "to congratulate him on his reelection." “This election was tough,” Ellison said in a statement earlier in the day Wednesday that declared victory. “Millions of dollars were spent to sow division, hate, and fear. And we overcame it: we were positive, and Minnesotans responded.” By 8 a.m. Wednesday, Blaha declared victory in the race. By 2 p.m. Wednesday it was official, with Wilson posting a statement conceding that his campaign came up short of winning. Democrats held onto all five state constitutional offices in Tuesday’s election.
A new generation of young, diverse Minnesota politicians will head to the Capitol next year following Election Day victories Tuesday. Twin Cities voters also elected the state’s first openly transgender person to the Minnesota Legislature, while Hennepin County elected the state’s first Black female sheriff. Collectively, the results signal some of the biggest shifts Minnesota’s ever seen in an election cycle, with communities of color poised to reshape the state’s political and social landscape.
Two northern Minnesota state House races are in line for taxpayer funded recounts. In District 3A Republican Roger Skraba is up by 15 votes over Rep. Rob Ecklund, DFL-International Falls. And in District 3B Natalie Zeleznikar defeated 23 term incumbent Rep. Mary Murphy, DFL-Hermantown, by 35 votes. It was Democrat Grant Hauschild's victory for the open Senate District 3 seat that gave the Democrats their one vote majority in the state Senate.
Doug Johnson, who represented the same area in the Minnesota Legislature for more than 30 years, has died at age 80. Johnson died Monday. His wife told the Mesabi Tribune he died from complications after a short illness. The DFLer was first elected to the state House in 1970 and later spent a quarter-century in the state Senate, serving until 2002. He was the longtime chair of the Senate Taxes Committee. He also served as mayor of Cook, Minnesota.
Estimated turnout in Minnesota's midterm election exceeded 60 percent. The Secretary of State's office says that's about 2.5 million voters who cast ballots out of about 4.1 million eligible voters. That's relatively high turnout for a midterm election, but falls short of turn out in 2018, when 64 percent of eligible voters went to the polls. In the 2020 presidential year turnout was 80 percent.
At the national level, the Associated Press reportsRepublicans were closing in Wednesday on a narrow House majority while control of the Senate hinged on a series of tight races. Either party could secure a Senate majority with wins in both Nevada and Arizona — where the races were too early to call. But there was a strong possibility that, for the second time in two years, the Senate majority could come down to a runoff in Georgia next month, with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker failing to earn enough votes to win outright. In the House, Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to Pennsylvania to Kansas, while many West Coast contests were still too early to call. But Republicans notched several important victories in their bid to get to the 218 seats needed to reclaim the House majority. In a particularly symbolic victory, the GOP toppled House Democratic campaign chief Sean Patrick Maloney of New York.
NPR reports the head of the agency responsible for strengthening U.S. cybersecurity and infrastructure protection says Tuesday's elections went well and is urging Americans to have patience with the rest of the process. "We have seen no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was any way compromised in any race in the country,” Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a statement. She credited poll workers and election officials, who have "already put in long hours and will continue to do so in the days ahead to certify the election results." They are now working to tabulate votes, review procedures and test and audit equipment. Easterly urged Americans to be patient as that process plays out, and look to state and local election officials for the most accurate and timely information. | 