While many believed Minnesota’s fraud situation would dampen the national blue wave and potentially grant the GOP their first statewide win in two decades, Minnesota voters delivered resounding victories to the DFL, sending another DFL trifecta back to St. Paul.
Initially, all GOP statewide candidates held narrow to moderate leads. However, once the votes from the Twin Cities were tallied, all DFL candidates emerged on top.
At the top of the ticket, current DFL U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar decisively defeated Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth by a margin of 55% to 42%. This victory makes Klobuchar Minnesota’s first female governor.
Although some polls indicated that the races for the U.S. Senate and Attorney General were extremely close or within the margin of error, Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan handily defeated Michele Tafoya in the open U.S. Senate race with a 53% to 43% margin. Additionally, current Attorney General Keith Ellison defeated his GOP opponent, Ron Schutz, with a 54% to 45% margin.
In the State Senate, the DFL increased their one-vote majority from 34 to 39 seats, leaving the GOP with 28 seats. Only one current member of the Senate DFL caucus, Senator Ron Kupec, lost his seat. However, Kupec lost by only 4 votes which will trigger an automatic recount. Additionally, GOP incumbent Senators Jim Abeler, Michael Kreun, and Bill Lieske were all defeated. The DFL also managed to secure the three open seats that had been held by the Republicans. Furthermore, GOP incumbent Senator Karin Housley defeated her opponent by only 42 votes which will trigger a second recount.
In the House of Representatives, the DFL decisively broke the current tie and is expected to return to St. Paul with ten new members, increasing their majority to 77 seats while leaving the GOP with 57 seats. The DFL successfully retained all of their current seats, defeated seven GOP incumbents, and won three open seats that were currently held by the Republicans. The GOP members of the House who were defeated were Jeff Dotseth, Wayne Johnson, Danny Nadeau, Aaron Repinski, Erica Schwartz, Jeff Witte, and Natalie Zeleznikar. Further, the DFL also secured the three open seats that were held by the Republicans. Lastly, Republican Representative Nolan West defeated his opponent by 22 votes, which will trigger a third automatic recount, so it’s possible the DFL could increase their majority by an additional seat.
Over the next few days, the legislative caucuses will elect their leaders. Given the significant DFL victories, it’s highly probable that the current House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson will become Speaker, while Sen Erin Murphy will likely retain her position as Senate Majority Leader. Conversely, there might be changes in GOP House and Senate leadership.
House and Senate Committee Chairs are typically announced around Thanksgiving. As you know, all of the current Commerce Chairs are retiring, so we will have new leadership of the committees that handle insurance issues. This will provide a great opportunity to educate the new chairs about the importance of independent agents as well and a robust private insurance market.
Regarding government agency leadership, Governor-Elect Klobuchar has indicated her intention to clean house and appoint new commissioners. This likely includes the Department of Commerce.
In the Congressional races, DFLer Matt Little handily beat State Senator Eric Pratt in the 2nd District. As a state Senator, Eric Pratt has been a strong supporter of a healthy insurance market and independent insurance agents. He will be missed.
In the 1st District, GOP Congressman Brad Finstad lost to his DFL challenger, Jake Johnson, by just 324 votes. This race is likely headed to an automatic recount. The other MN Congressional incumbents all retained their seats.
We will be in touch with new developments and more about how the election results could impact you and your clients. In the meantime, feel free to reach out with any questions or to get involved with our Legislative Committee—there will be no shortage of challenging issues in 2027.
