Minnesota Report
There are a number of unseen variables in Minnesota legislative special election contests and many assumptions are included in the mix of races. The Secretary of State’s Election Results only show elections dating back to 1992, and so we will use this as our means to bracket the question on whether or not one party holds the advantage in said contests.
Since there was only one special in the 1990’s it hard to glean anything from that decade. In the 2000’s in the pre-Trump years there were six House victories versus five Republican wins. In the Senate, the tally is eight DFL victories verses three Republican.
Post-Trump the results are more favorable to the Republican Party which carried 5 House special elections compared to two for the DFL. In the Senate, it is a one-to-one split.
Another factor to consider is where all these took place. We will note, in the pre-Trump assessment there was one House special election in the Twin Cities and three Senate, which means the numbers are skewed for the DFL. In the post-Trump timeframe there was only one House special election in the two largest cities.
1992
In House District 47A-Brooklyn Center, Republican John Jordan with 55.69% defeated Democratic Farmer Labor Mike Nelson with 40.14%.
2002
In Senate District 06-Duluth, Democratic Farmer Labor Yvonne Prettner Solon with 55.84% defeated Green Party Joel Sipress with 36.99%.
In Senate District 67-St Pau,l Democratic Farmer Labor Mee Moua with 51.19% defeated Republican Greg Copeland with 29.12% and Independence Jack Tomczak 17.68%.
2003
In House District 40A-Burnsville Republican DUKE POWELL with 68.51% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor JOE ROSENFIELD with 30.87%.
In House District 52B-Stillwater, Democratic-Farmer-Labor REBECCA OTTO with 54.30% defeated Republican MATT DEAN with 43.47%.
In House District 32B-Maple Grove, Republican KURT ZELLERS with 58.32% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor MICK GANLEY with 38.24%.
In House District 18A-Hutchinson, Republican SCOTT NEWMAN with 64.69% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor LOWELL UELAND with 34.97%.
2004
In Senate District 37-Apple Valley, Republican CHRIS GERLACH with 59.01% defeated Independence MARY HAMANN-ROLAND with 40.90%.
2005
In House District 15B -St Cloud, Democratic-Farmer-Labor LARRY HAWS ran virtually unopposed and won 70.84% while Write-In candidate KAY Ek received 26.19%
The reason for the lack of formal opposition is the MN State Supreme Court removed the daughter Sue Ek from the ballot, because she didn’t live in the district within the required time. Once significant piece of evidence was our Checks & Balances scoop story.
In Senate District 15-St Cloud, Democratic-Farmer-Labor TARRYL CLARK with 55.38% defeated Republican DAN “OX” OCHSNER with 37.26%.
2008
In Senate District 25-Northfield, Democratic-Farmer-Labor KEVIN DAHLE with 55.15% defeated Republican RAY COX with 42.37%.
2010
In Senate District 26-Waseca, Republican MIKE PARRY with 43.04% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor JASON JOHN ENGBRECHT with 36.50%.
2011
In House District 05B-Hibbing, Democratic-Farmer-Labor CARLY MELIN with 60.39% defeated Republican PAUL JACOBSON with 35.46%.
In Senate District 66-St Paul, Democratic-Farmer-Labor MARY JO MCGUIRE with 80.25% defeated Republican GREG COPELAND with 19.59%.
In Senate District 46-Brooklyn Center, Democratic-Farmer-Labor CHRIS EATON with 61.85% defeated Republican CORY JENSEN with 32.67%.
In Senate District 61-Minneapolis, Democratic-Farmer-Labor JEFF HAYDEN with 68.24%
Green FARHEEN HAKEEM with 21.88%.
2012
In House District 61B-Minneapolis, Democratic-Farmer-Labor SUSAN ALLEN with 55.96% defeated Respect NATHAN BLUMENSHINE 43.41%.
In Senate District 59-Minneapolis, Democratic-Farmer-Labor KARI DZIEDZIC with 79.41% defeated Republican BEN SCHWANKE with 19.28%.
2013
In House District 14A-St Cloud, Republican TAMA THEIS with 54.51% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor JOANNE DORSHER with 42.69%.
In House District 19A -North Mankato, Democratic-Farmer-Labor CLARK P. JOHNSON with 53.69% defeated Republican ALLEN QUIST with 36.08%.
2015
In House District 03A-International Falls, Democratic-Farmer-Labor ROB ECKLUND with 63.39% defeated Republican ROGER SKRABA with 19.32%.
2016
In House District 50B-Bloomington, Republican CHAD ANDERSON with 51.24% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor ANDREW CARLSON with 48.66%.
In Senate District 35-Anoka, Republican JIM ABELER with 73.69% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor ROGER JOHNSON 21.56%.
2017
In House District 32B-North Branch, Republican Anne E. Neu with 53.22% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Laurie J. Warner with 46.73%.
2018
In House District 23B-Lake Crystal, Republican Jeremy Munson with 59.21% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Melissa Wagner with 39.93%
In Senate District 54-Cottage Grove, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Karla Bigham with 50.73% defeated Republican Denny McNamara with 47.06%. .
2019
In House District 11B-Hinckley, Republican Nathan Nelson with 68.43% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Tim Burkhardt with 31.55%.
In Senate District 11-Pine City, Republican Jason Rarick with 52.02% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Stu Lourey with 45.90%.
2020
In House District 30A-Elk River, Republican Paul Novotny with 63.44% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Chad Hobot with 36.50%.
In House District 60A-Minneapolis, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Sydney Jordan with 87.44% defeated Legal Marijuana Now Marty Super with 11.49%.
2023
In House District 52B-Mendota Heights, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Bianca Virnig with 58.22% defeated Republican Cynthia Lonnquist with 40.87%.
2024
In House District 27B-Princeton, Republican Bryan Lawrence with 84.52% defeated Democratic-Farmer-Labor Brad Brown with 15.39%.