Politics of Minnesota
Encyclopedia
Minnesota
is known for a politically active citizenry, with populism
being a longstanding force among the state's political parties. Minnesota has consistently high voter turnout; in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
, 78.2% of eligible Minnesotans voted – the highest percentage of any U.S. state – versus the national average of 61.7%. This was due in part to its permissive voter registration
laws; previously unregistered voters can register on election day
, at their polls, with evidence of residency.
The major political parties are the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), the Republican Party of Minnesota
, and the Independence Party of Minnesota
(IP). The DFL was created in 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and Farmer-Labor Party
merged. The party is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The nickname "DFLers" is often used in Minnesota by both members and non-members of the party as an alternative to "Democrats". The state Republican Party is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. On January 26, 2008, the IP voted to affiliate with the nascent Independence Party of America
.
(July 29, 1828 – October 18, 1901) served as the 8th Governor of Minnesota
from January 7, 1876 to January 10, 1882. Pillsbury was a noted philanthropist and often anonymously donated funds to causes he favored. In particular, he helped the University of Minnesota
recover from debt in its early years, and later served as a regent
. Since then, he has become known as "The Father of the University". Pillsbury Hall at the University of Minnesota is named in his honor. He tried his hand at several different types of businesses, including hardware, real estate and lumber, though his greatest success came when he founded C.A. Pillsbury and Company along with his family (it is named for his nephew, Charles Alfred Pillsbury
).
(December 22, 1856 – December 21, 1937) was elected as a Republican
to the United States Senate
from Minnesota in 1916 and served from March 4, 1917 to March 3, 1923. He was a delegate to the Fifth International Conference of American States at Santiago, Chile
in 1923, and served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom from 1923 to 1925. He was United States Secretary of State
in the Cabinet of President
Calvin Coolidge
1925 – 1929. In 1928, he was awarded the Freedom of the City
in Dublin, Ireland and in 1929 the government of France made him a member of the Legion of Honor. As Secretary of State, he coauthored the Kellogg-Briand Pact
, signed in 1928. Proposed by its other namesake, French foreign minister Aristide Briand
, the treaty intended to provide for "the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy." He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize
in recognition. He was associate judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice
from 1930 to 1935.
(November 13, 1891 – August 22, 1936) served as the 22nd Governor of Minnesota
from January 6, 1931 to August 22, 1936. He was a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
, and was the first member of the Farmer-Labor Party to win the office of governor in Minnesota. The party, founded in 1918 had a good deal of success in Minnesota as a statewide third party, with three governors and four U.S. senators serving during the 1920s and 1930s. The party platform called for protection for farmers and labor union members, government ownership of some industries, and social security laws. There were unsuccessful attempts to develop the party into a national Farmer-Labor Party in the early 1920s. The Minnesota Democratic Party, led by Hubert H. Humphrey, was able to merge the Farmer-Labor party with the Minnesota Democratic Party in 1944. Since 1944 the two parties together make up the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
from 1939 to 1943 and a later perennial candidate
for other offices, most notably and frequently President of the United States. At 32 he was the youngest governor to serve in Minnesota and was seen as an "up and comer" after delivering the keynote
address at the 1940 Republican National Convention. At that convention, he helped secure the Republican Party
nomination for Wendell Willkie
. Stassen was a delegate at the San Francisco Conference
that established the United Nations, and president of the University of Pennsylvania
from 1948 to 1953.
Stassen was later best known for being a perennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President. His strongest bid for the presidential nomination was in 1948, when he won a series of upset victories in early primaries
. Polls showed that he would beat Harry S. Truman
if nominated. He lost the nomination to Thomas Dewey
, however, who had already lost in the presidential election of 1944 to Franklin D. Roosevelt
. Stassen played a key role in the 1952 Republican contest when he released his delegates to Dwight D. Eisenhower
. This helped Eisenhower to defeat Robert Taft
on the first ballot. He served in the Eisenhower Administration, filling posts including director of the Mutual Security Administration (foreign aid) and Special Assistant to the President for Disarmament. During this period he held cabinet rank and led a quixotic
effort to "dump Nixon
" at the 1956 Republican National Convention
. Stassen gained a reputation as a liberal, particularly when, as president of the American Baptist Convention in 1963, he joined Martin Luther King in his march on Washington, D.C. He was a prime representative of the socially-progressive "Rockefeller Republican
" wing of American Republicanism.
(May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was the 38th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Lyndon Johnson. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator
from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
and Americans for Democratic Action
. He served as mayor of Minneapolis from July 2, 1945 to November 30, 1948. In 1968 Humphrey was the nominee of the Democratic Party
in the United States presidential election but lost to Republican Richard M. Nixon. In one of the most renowned speeches in American political history, Humphrey told the 1948 Democratic National Convention
: "the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights," winning support for a pro-civil-rights plank in the Party's platform.
(March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was a longtime member of the U.S. Congress. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives
from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate
from 1959 to 1971. His anti-war stance and popularity prior to the 1968 Democratic National Convention
likely convinced Lyndon Johnson to drop out of the race
. In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy unsuccessfully sought the Democratic
nomination for President of the United States to succeed incumbent Lyndon Johnson on an anti-Vietnam War
platform. He would unsuccessfully seek the presidency five times altogether. (He is not to be confused with Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy
who sought out Communist spies within the federal government.)
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(May 9, 1918 – February 20, 2003) was a co-founder and chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
and a three-term Governor of Minnesota
, the first from the DFL. Freeman served as United States Secretary of Agriculture
under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He recognized that needy people were starving just as grain surpluses had driven prices down. Freeman advocated farm exports and supported controls on production sometimes idling farm land for years. Freeman worked toward the pilot school breakfast program and is most often remembered for today's U.S. Food Stamp Program
.
(born January 5, 1928) was the 42nd Vice President of the United States (1977–1981) under President Jimmy Carter
. He was also a two-term United States Senator
from Minnesota and the Democratic Party
nominee for president in 1984 against the incumbent, Republican
Ronald Reagan
. Mondale suffered a crushing defeat as Reagan was re-elected in a landslide victory
in which Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Mondale also quickly stepped into the 2002 U.S. Senate race against Norm Coleman
, when Paul Wellstone unexpectedly died in a plane crash two weeks before the election. Coleman narrowly won the election, 49.5% to 47.3%.
(July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was a two-term U.S. Senator from Minnesota. He was a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
and was a professor of political science
at Carleton College
before being elected to the Senate in 1990. Wellstone was in a line of left-of-center or progressive
Senators of the DFL. The first three, Hubert H. Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, and Walter F. Mondale, were all prominent in the national Democratic Party and Wellstone became a leading spokesman for the progressive wing in his time. He served in the Senate from 1991 until his death in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. His wife, Sheila
, and daughter, Marcia, also died in the crash. They had two other grown children, David and Mark, who now co-chair the Wellstone Action
nonprofit group.
(born July 15, 1951, as James George Janos), also known as "The Body", "The Mind", and "Governor Body", is an American politician, Navy UDT member, professional wrestler, actor, and radio talk show host. In the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998
he was elected the 38th Governor of Minnesota
and served from January 4, 1999 to January 6, 2003 without seeking a second term. Ventura ran as a candidate for the Reform Party of Minnesota (but joined the Independence Party of Minnesota
when it broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America
) and narrowly, but unexpectedly beat the major-party candidates: Saint Paul
mayor Norm Coleman
(Republican) and Minnesota
Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III
(Democratic-Farmer-Labor
). Ventura went on to gain the highest approval rating of any governor in Minnesota history, with some polls ranking his public approval as high as the 73% in 1999, despite controversial statements of his. His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky advertising man Bill Hillsman
, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $600,000), and is widely regarded as one of the first candidates to effectively use the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.
Minnesotans have voted for Democratic presidential candidates ever since 1976, longer than any other state. Minnesota and the District of Columbia were the only electoral votes not won by incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan
in 1984
. Minnesota voters instead chose former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale
, a Minnesota native. Mondale or Hubert Humphrey
were on the Democratic ticket as candidates for President or Vice President in the 1964
, 1968
, 1976
, 1980
, and 1984
elections.
In recent years presidential campaigns have viewed the 27 electoral college
votes from Minnesota, Wisconsin
, and Iowa
as a block that is subject to swing toward either major party, and equal in value to Florida's 27 electoral votes. This analysis resulted in dozens of visits by candidates in the final months of both the 2000
and 2004
campaigns.
However, in the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama won the state by more than 10 percentage points.
In the 108th and 109th congresses, Minnesota's congressional delegation was split with 4 Democratic and 4 Republican members of congress and the state's senate seats have also generally been split since the early 1990s. (See United States Congressional Delegations from Minnesota
.)
In the 2006 mid-term election, Democrats were elected to all state offices except for governor and lieutenant governor, where Republicans Tim Pawlenty
and Carol Molnau
narrowly won reelection. The DFL also posted double-digit gains in both houses of the legislature, elected DFLer Amy Klobuchar
to the U.S. Senate, and increased the Democratic U.S. House caucus by one, Tim Walz
(MN-01
).
However, in the 2010 mid-terms, the 8th district
, a democratic stronghold for decades in the Iron Range
, elected Republican Chip Cravaack
over long-time incumbent Jim Oberstar
, spliting the delagation again, 4 to 4. Republicans also captured both houses of the Minnesota Legislature
for the first time in decades.
, formed in 1920, provided three governors, four United States senators, and eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1920s until its merger with the Democratic Party in 1944.
The moderate Reform Party was able to elect the former mayor of Brooklyn Park
, and former professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura
to the governorship in 1998
. The Minnesota branch of the Reform party split off from the national party due to unhappiness about Pat Buchanan's
influence in the party, and was renamed the Independence Party
. The Independence party has been able to sustain sufficient support to maintain major party status.
The state's Green Party
has elected several city council members and other local office-holders in Duluth
, Minneapolis and Winona
, and has made strong runs for state legislature during the past two election cycles. In 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader
received just over 5% of the presidential votes cast, gaining Major Party status for the party. The Green Party lost that status in 2004, but retains minor party status having exceeded a 2% threshold.
In the 2006 election, voters in Minneapolis approved a referendum (by a decisive 65% to 35%) to utilize Instant-runoff voting
(IRV) in future city-wide elections, which is expected to be a boon for third parties
. The drive for IRV began in the 1990s as part of the Green Party's platform, although all political parties except the Republicans supported it in the Minneapolis referendum.
Mark Dayton
, whose term began on January 3, 2011. Dayton is the first member of the DFL
to be elected to that post since Rudy Perpich
left office in 1991. The Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota is Yvonne Prettner Solon
. The offices of governor and lieutenant governor have four-year terms and are elected as a single ticket. The governor has a cabinet consisting of the leaders of various government agencies in the state, called commissioners. The other constitutional offices are secretary of state, Mark Ritchie
, attorney general, Lori Swanson
, and state auditor
, Rebecca Otto
.
The Minnesota Legislature
is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate
and the House of Representatives
. The state has 67 districts, each covering about 73,500 people. Each district has one senator and two representatives (each district being divided into A and B sections). Senators serve for four years and representatives for two years.
The Legislature convenes in regular session each odd numbered year on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January. In the even numbered years, it convenes on a date set by joint agreement of both bodies. The state constitution limits the Legislature to meeting 120 legislative days during each biennium. In addition, the Legislature may not meet in regular session after the first Monday following the third Saturday in May of any year. During this time, the House or the Senate may not adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other body.
, which gained the majority in both houses following the 2010 general election, gaining 25 house seats and 16 senate seats. Previously, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
had dominated the legislature, holding 87 house seats and 46 senate seats prior to the election.
The Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota Senate
hears all appeals from the Tax Court, the Worker's Compensation Court, first-degree murder convictions, and discretionary appeals from the Court of Appeals; it also has original jurisdiction
over election disputes. All judges must stand for election the first state election after appointment by the governor, and periodically thereafter.
, and many lakes and rivers are overseen by watershed district
s and soil and water conservation districts.
There are seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities in Minnesota. These communities govern themselves independently.
Minnesota's two U.S. Senators
are elected at large:
Minnesota has eight congressional districts. There were 9th and 10th districts but they were eliminated in 1963 and 1933 respectively. Since the early 1960s, the state's congressional districts have been drawn by a bipartisan judicial panel due to the legislature's de facto abandonment of that duty. Due to slower than average population growth, it is expected that the state will lose one congressional district following the 2010 census.
U.S. House of Representatives
:
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
is known for a politically active citizenry, with populism
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
being a longstanding force among the state's political parties. Minnesota has consistently high voter turnout; in the 2008 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, 78.2% of eligible Minnesotans voted – the highest percentage of any U.S. state – versus the national average of 61.7%. This was due in part to its permissive voter registration
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens and residents to check in with some central registry specifically for the purpose of being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive.-Centralized/compulsory vs...
laws; previously unregistered voters can register on election day
Election Day (United States)
Election Day in the United States is the day set by law for the general elections of public officials. It occurs on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The earliest possible date is November 2 and the latest possible date is November 8...
, at their polls, with evidence of residency.
The major political parties are the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), the Republican Party of Minnesota
Republican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
, and the Independence Party of Minnesota
Independence Party of Minnesota
The Independence Party of Minnesota , formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is the third largest political party in Minnesota, behind the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party . It is the political party of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura , and endorsed former U.S...
(IP). The DFL was created in 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and Farmer-Labor Party
Farmer-Labor Party
The first modern Farmer–Labor Party in the United States emerged in Minnesota in 1918. Economic dislocation caused by American entry into World War I put agricultural prices and workers' wages into imbalance with rapidly escalating retail prices during the war years, and farmers and workers sought...
merged. The party is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The nickname "DFLers" is often used in Minnesota by both members and non-members of the party as an alternative to "Democrats". The state Republican Party is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. On January 26, 2008, the IP voted to affiliate with the nascent Independence Party of America
Independence Party of America
The Independence Party of America is a political party in the United States, founded on September 23, 2007 by activists from the Independence Party of New York. Its current National Chairman is Frank MacKay...
.
Historical figures of note
John Pillsbury
John S. PillsburyJohn S. Pillsbury
John Sargent Pillsbury was an American politician, businessman, and philanthropist. A Republican, he served as the eighth Governor of Minnesota from 1876 to 1882.John S. Pillsbury was born in Sutton, New Hampshire...
(July 29, 1828 – October 18, 1901) served as the 8th Governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
from January 7, 1876 to January 10, 1882. Pillsbury was a noted philanthropist and often anonymously donated funds to causes he favored. In particular, he helped the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
recover from debt in its early years, and later served as a regent
Board of Regents
In the United States, a board often governs public institutions of higher education, which include both state universities and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual colleges and universities, or both. In general they operate as...
. Since then, he has become known as "The Father of the University". Pillsbury Hall at the University of Minnesota is named in his honor. He tried his hand at several different types of businesses, including hardware, real estate and lumber, though his greatest success came when he founded C.A. Pillsbury and Company along with his family (it is named for his nephew, Charles Alfred Pillsbury
Charles Alfred Pillsbury
Charles Alfred Pillsbury , was a U.S. flour industrialist and the founder & namesake of the Pillsbury Company....
).
Frank Kellogg
Frank B. KelloggFrank B. Kellogg
Frank Billings Kellogg was an American lawyer, politician and statesman who served in the U.S. Senate and as U.S. Secretary of State. He co-authored the Kellogg-Briand Pact, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1929..- Biography :Kellogg was born in Potsdam, New York, and his family...
(December 22, 1856 – December 21, 1937) was elected as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Minnesota in 1916 and served from March 4, 1917 to March 3, 1923. He was a delegate to the Fifth International Conference of American States at Santiago, Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
in 1923, and served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom from 1923 to 1925. He was United States Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
in the Cabinet of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
1925 – 1929. In 1928, he was awarded the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
in Dublin, Ireland and in 1929 the government of France made him a member of the Legion of Honor. As Secretary of State, he coauthored the Kellogg-Briand Pact
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact was an agreement signed on August 27, 1928, by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Weimar Germany and a number of other countries.The pact renounced war , prohibiting the use of war...
, signed in 1928. Proposed by its other namesake, French foreign minister Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
, the treaty intended to provide for "the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy." He was awarded the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in recognition. He was associate judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice
Permanent Court of International Justice
The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1922 , the Court was initially met with a good reaction from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of...
from 1930 to 1935.
Floyd B. Olson
Floyd B. OlsonFloyd B. Olson
Floyd Bjørnstjerne Olson was an American politician. He served as the 22nd Governor of Minnesota from January 6, 1931 to August 22, 1936. He died in office from stomach cancer. He was a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, and was the first member of the Farmer-Labor Party to win the...
(November 13, 1891 – August 22, 1936) served as the 22nd Governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
from January 6, 1931 to August 22, 1936. He was a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party was a political party in the United States state of Minnesota, the most successful and longest-lasting of the constituent elements of the national Farmer–Labor Party movement, which had a presence in other states...
, and was the first member of the Farmer-Labor Party to win the office of governor in Minnesota. The party, founded in 1918 had a good deal of success in Minnesota as a statewide third party, with three governors and four U.S. senators serving during the 1920s and 1930s. The party platform called for protection for farmers and labor union members, government ownership of some industries, and social security laws. There were unsuccessful attempts to develop the party into a national Farmer-Labor Party in the early 1920s. The Minnesota Democratic Party, led by Hubert H. Humphrey, was able to merge the Farmer-Labor party with the Minnesota Democratic Party in 1944. Since 1944 the two parties together make up the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Harold Stassen
Harold E. Stassen (April 13, 1907 – March 4, 2001) was the 25th Governor of MinnesotaGovernor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
from 1939 to 1943 and a later perennial candidate
Perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is one who frequently runs for public office with a record of success that is infrequent, if existent at all. Perennial candidates are often either members of minority political parties or have political opinions that are not mainstream. They may run without any serious hope...
for other offices, most notably and frequently President of the United States. At 32 he was the youngest governor to serve in Minnesota and was seen as an "up and comer" after delivering the keynote
Keynote
A keynote in literature, music, or public speaking establishes the principal underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address...
address at the 1940 Republican National Convention. At that convention, he helped secure the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nomination for Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
. Stassen was a delegate at the San Francisco Conference
United Nations Conference on International Organization
The United Nations Conference on International Organization was a convention of delegates from 50 Allied nations that took place from 25 April 1945 to 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, California. At this convention, the delegates reviewed and rewrote the Dumbarton Oaks agreements...
that established the United Nations, and president of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
from 1948 to 1953.
Stassen was later best known for being a perennial candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President. His strongest bid for the presidential nomination was in 1948, when he won a series of upset victories in early primaries
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
. Polls showed that he would beat Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
if nominated. He lost the nomination to Thomas Dewey
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
, however, who had already lost in the presidential election of 1944 to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. Stassen played a key role in the 1952 Republican contest when he released his delegates to Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. This helped Eisenhower to defeat Robert Taft
Robert Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
on the first ballot. He served in the Eisenhower Administration, filling posts including director of the Mutual Security Administration (foreign aid) and Special Assistant to the President for Disarmament. During this period he held cabinet rank and led a quixotic
Quixotism
Quixotism is impracticality in pursuit of ideals, especially those ideals manifested by rash, lofty and romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action. It also serves to describe an idealism without regard to practicality...
effort to "dump Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
" at the 1956 Republican National Convention
1956 Republican National Convention
The 1956 Republican National Convention was held by the Republican Party of the United States at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, from August 20 to August 23, 1956. U.S. Senator William F. Knowland was temporary chairman and former speaker of the House Joseph W. Martin, Jr. served as...
. Stassen gained a reputation as a liberal, particularly when, as president of the American Baptist Convention in 1963, he joined Martin Luther King in his march on Washington, D.C. He was a prime representative of the socially-progressive "Rockefeller Republican
Rockefeller Republican
Rockefeller Republican refers to a faction of the United States Republican Party who held moderate to liberal views similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller...
" wing of American Republicanism.
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert HumphreyHubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
(May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was the 38th Vice President of the United States, serving under President Lyndon Johnson. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
and Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action is an American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA works for social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research and supporting progressive candidates.-History:...
. He served as mayor of Minneapolis from July 2, 1945 to November 30, 1948. In 1968 Humphrey was the nominee of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in the United States presidential election but lost to Republican Richard M. Nixon. In one of the most renowned speeches in American political history, Humphrey told the 1948 Democratic National Convention
1948 Democratic National Convention
The 1948 Democratic National Convention was held at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 12 to July 14, and resulted in the nominations of incumbent Harry S Truman for President and U.S. Senator Alben W...
: "the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadows of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights," winning support for a pro-civil-rights plank in the Party's platform.
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene McCarthyEugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph "Gene" McCarthy was an American politician, poet, and a long-time member of the United States Congress from Minnesota. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate from 1959 to 1971.In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy was the first...
(March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005) was a longtime member of the U.S. Congress. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from 1949 to 1959 and the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from 1959 to 1971. His anti-war stance and popularity prior to the 1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, from August 26 to August 29, 1968. Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to...
likely convinced Lyndon Johnson to drop out of the race
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
. In the 1968 presidential election, McCarthy unsuccessfully sought the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nomination for President of the United States to succeed incumbent Lyndon Johnson on an anti-Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
platform. He would unsuccessfully seek the presidency five times altogether. (He is not to be confused with Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
who sought out Communist spies within the federal government.)
Orville Freeman
Orville FreemanOrville Freeman
Orville Lothrop Freeman was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955 to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...
(May 9, 1918 – February 20, 2003) was a co-founder and chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
and a three-term Governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
, the first from the DFL. Freeman served as United States Secretary of Agriculture
United States Secretary of Agriculture
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 20 January 2009. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other...
under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He recognized that needy people were starving just as grain surpluses had driven prices down. Freeman advocated farm exports and supported controls on production sometimes idling farm land for years. Freeman worked toward the pilot school breakfast program and is most often remembered for today's U.S. Food Stamp Program
Food Stamp Program
The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of...
.
Walter Mondale
Walter MondaleWalter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
(born January 5, 1928) was the 42nd Vice President of the United States (1977–1981) under President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. He was also a two-term United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Minnesota and the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nominee for president in 1984 against the incumbent, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Mondale suffered a crushing defeat as Reagan was re-elected in a landslide victory
Landslide victory
In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...
in which Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Mondale also quickly stepped into the 2002 U.S. Senate race against Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
, when Paul Wellstone unexpectedly died in a plane crash two weeks before the election. Coleman narrowly won the election, 49.5% to 47.3%.
Paul Wellstone
Paul WellstonePaul Wellstone
Paul David Wellstone was a two-term U.S. Senator from the state of Minnesota and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which is affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Before being elected to the Senate in 1990, he was a professor of political science at Carleton College...
(July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was a two-term U.S. Senator from Minnesota. He was a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
and was a professor of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
before being elected to the Senate in 1990. Wellstone was in a line of left-of-center or progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
Senators of the DFL. The first three, Hubert H. Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, and Walter F. Mondale, were all prominent in the national Democratic Party and Wellstone became a leading spokesman for the progressive wing in his time. He served in the Senate from 1991 until his death in a plane crash on October 25, 2002. His wife, Sheila
Sheila Wellstone
Sheila Ison Wellstone was an advocate for human rights, the environment, and peace. She was married to U.S. Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone....
, and daughter, Marcia, also died in the crash. They had two other grown children, David and Mark, who now co-chair the Wellstone Action
Wellstone Action
Wellstone Action is a Saint Paul, Minnesota-based non-profit organization that was founded by Jeff Blodgett. The camp trains progressive citizens - and potential candidates for public office - how to succeed in winning elections, enacting legislation, and passing ballot initiatives. The...
nonprofit group.
Jesse Ventura
Jesse VenturaJesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
(born July 15, 1951, as James George Janos), also known as "The Body", "The Mind", and "Governor Body", is an American politician, Navy UDT member, professional wrestler, actor, and radio talk show host. In the Minnesota gubernatorial election of 1998
Minnesota gubernatorial election, 1998
The 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1998. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura defeated Republican Party challenger Norm Coleman and Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party challenger Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III...
he was elected the 38th Governor of Minnesota
Governor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
and served from January 4, 1999 to January 6, 2003 without seeking a second term. Ventura ran as a candidate for the Reform Party of Minnesota (but joined the Independence Party of Minnesota
Independence Party of Minnesota
The Independence Party of Minnesota , formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is the third largest political party in Minnesota, behind the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party . It is the political party of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura , and endorsed former U.S...
when it broke from its association with the Reform Party of the United States of America
Reform Party of the United States of America
The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
) and narrowly, but unexpectedly beat the major-party candidates: Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
mayor Norm Coleman
Norm Coleman
Norman Bertram Coleman, Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was a United States senator from Minnesota from 2003 to 2009. Coleman was elected in 2002 and served in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. Before becoming a senator, he was mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002...
(Republican) and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Attorney General Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III
Skip Humphrey
Hubert Horatio "Skip" Humphrey III is a former Minnesota politician who served as attorney general of the state from 1983 to 1999. Prior to that, he was a state senator from 1973 to 1983...
(Democratic-Farmer-Labor
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
). Ventura went on to gain the highest approval rating of any governor in Minnesota history, with some polls ranking his public approval as high as the 73% in 1999, despite controversial statements of his. His campaign consisted of a combination of aggressive grassroots events and original television spots, designed by quirky advertising man Bill Hillsman
Bill Hillsman
William Gerard Hillsman, Jr. is an American political consultant and advertising executive. He works and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, using the phrase "Don't vote for politics as usual." He spent considerably less than his opponents (about $600,000), and is widely regarded as one of the first candidates to effectively use the Internet as a medium of reaching out to voters in a political campaign.
Historically politically progressive
| Year | Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 United States presidential election, 2008 The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365... |
44.77% 1,275,400 | 55.22% 1,573,323 |
| 2004 United States presidential election, 2004 The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator... |
47.59% 1,346,695 | 51.13% 1,445,014 |
| 2000 United States presidential election, 2000 The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President.... |
45.50% 1,109,659 | 47.91% 1,168,266 |
| 1996 United States presidential election, 1996 The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack... |
35.64% 766,476 | 51.11% 1,120,438 |
| 1992 United States presidential election, 1992 The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot.... |
31.90% 747,841 | 43.50% 1,020,997 |
| 1988 United States presidential election, 1988 The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the... |
46.01% 962,337 | 53.01% 1,109,471 |
| 1984 United States presidential election, 1984 The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982... |
49.44% 1,032,602 | 49.78% 1,036,364 |
| 1980 United States presidential election, 1980 The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent... |
42.60% 872,268 | 46.50% 945,173 |
Minnesotans have voted for Democratic presidential candidates ever since 1976, longer than any other state. Minnesota and the District of Columbia were the only electoral votes not won by incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in 1984
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
. Minnesota voters instead chose former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, a Minnesota native. Mondale or Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
were on the Democratic ticket as candidates for President or Vice President in the 1964
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, 1968
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
, 1976
United States presidential election, 1976
The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic...
, 1980
United States presidential election, 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent...
, and 1984
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
elections.
In recent years presidential campaigns have viewed the 27 electoral college
United States Electoral College
The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election...
votes from Minnesota, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, and Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
as a block that is subject to swing toward either major party, and equal in value to Florida's 27 electoral votes. This analysis resulted in dozens of visits by candidates in the final months of both the 2000
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
and 2004
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
campaigns.
However, in the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama won the state by more than 10 percentage points.
In the 108th and 109th congresses, Minnesota's congressional delegation was split with 4 Democratic and 4 Republican members of congress and the state's senate seats have also generally been split since the early 1990s. (See United States Congressional Delegations from Minnesota
United States Congressional Delegations from Minnesota
These are tables of congressional delegations from Minnesota to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858.-United States Senate:- Delegates from Minnesota Territory :...
.)
In the 2006 mid-term election, Democrats were elected to all state offices except for governor and lieutenant governor, where Republicans Tim Pawlenty
Tim Pawlenty
Timothy James "Tim" Pawlenty , also known affectionately among supporters as T-Paw, is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Minnesota . He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election from May to August 2011...
and Carol Molnau
Carol Molnau
Carol Molnau was the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. She formerly served as head of the Minnesota Department of Transportation...
narrowly won reelection. The DFL also posted double-digit gains in both houses of the legislature, elected DFLer Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party...
to the U.S. Senate, and increased the Democratic U.S. House caucus by one, Tim Walz
Tim Walz
Timothy James Walz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .The district comprises the state's southern end, running along the entire border with Iowa...
(MN-01
Minnesota's 1st congressional district
Minnesota's 1st congressional district extends across southern Minnesota from the border with South Dakota to the border with Wisconsin. The First District is primarily a rural district built on a strong history of agriculture, although this is changing rapidly due to strong population growth in...
).
However, in the 2010 mid-terms, the 8th district
Minnesota's 8th congressional district
Minnesota's 8th congressional district covers the northeastern part of Minnesota. It is anchored by Duluth, Minnesota which is the fourth largest city in state. It also includes most of the Mesabi and Vermilion iron ranges. The district is best-known for its mining, agriculture, tourism, and...
, a democratic stronghold for decades in the Iron Range
Iron Range
The Iron Range is a region that makes up the northeastern section of Minnesota in the United States. "The Range", as it is known by locals, is a region with multiple distinct bands of iron ore...
, elected Republican Chip Cravaack
Chip Cravaack
Raymond "Chip" Cravaack is the U.S. Representative for northeastern serving since January 2011. In his first try for political office, he upset 18-term Democratic incumbent Jim Oberstar by a margin of 4,400 votes to become the first Republican since 1947 to represent the district...
over long-time incumbent Jim Oberstar
Jim Oberstar
James Louis "Jim" Oberstar is a former U.S. Representative who served in the U.S. Congress from 1975 until 2011 as a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. He represented northeastern , which included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing...
, spliting the delagation again, 4 to 4. Republicans also captured both houses of the Minnesota Legislature
Minnesota Legislature
The Minnesota Legislature is the legislative branch of government in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is a bicameral legislature located at the Minnesota Capitol in Saint Paul and it consists of two houses: the lower Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate...
for the first time in decades.
Third party movements
The progressive Minnesota Farmer-Labor PartyMinnesota Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party was a political party in the United States state of Minnesota, the most successful and longest-lasting of the constituent elements of the national Farmer–Labor Party movement, which had a presence in other states...
, formed in 1920, provided three governors, four United States senators, and eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1920s until its merger with the Democratic Party in 1944.
The moderate Reform Party was able to elect the former mayor of Brooklyn Park
Brooklyn Park, Minnesota
According to the 2010 census, there were 75,781 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 52% White, 24% African American, 1% Native American, 15% Asian, 42 residents identifying themselves as Pacific Islander, 4% from other races, and 4% from two or more races...
, and former professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
to the governorship in 1998
Minnesota gubernatorial election, 1998
The 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1998. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura defeated Republican Party challenger Norm Coleman and Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party challenger Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III...
. The Minnesota branch of the Reform party split off from the national party due to unhappiness about Pat Buchanan's
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
influence in the party, and was renamed the Independence Party
Independence Party of Minnesota
The Independence Party of Minnesota , formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is the third largest political party in Minnesota, behind the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and Republican Party . It is the political party of former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura , and endorsed former U.S...
. The Independence party has been able to sustain sufficient support to maintain major party status.
The state's Green Party
Green Party of Minnesota
The Green Party of Minnesota is the fourth largest political party in Minnesota and was founded in 1994 on the Four Pillars of the Green Party: Ecological Wisdom, Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence and Peace...
has elected several city council members and other local office-holders in Duluth
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, Minneapolis and Winona
Winona, Minnesota
Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....
, and has made strong runs for state legislature during the past two election cycles. In 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
received just over 5% of the presidential votes cast, gaining Major Party status for the party. The Green Party lost that status in 2004, but retains minor party status having exceeded a 2% threshold.
In the 2006 election, voters in Minneapolis approved a referendum (by a decisive 65% to 35%) to utilize Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting
Instant-runoff voting , also known as preferential voting, the alternative vote and ranked choice voting, is a voting system used to elect one winner. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their ballots are counted as one vote for their first choice candidate. If a candidate secures a...
(IRV) in future city-wide elections, which is expected to be a boon for third parties
Third party (politics)
In a two-party system of politics, the term third party is sometimes applied to a party other than the two dominant ones. While technically the term is limited to the third largest party or third oldest party, it is common, though innumerate, shorthand for any smaller party.For instance, in the...
. The drive for IRV began in the 1990s as part of the Green Party's platform, although all political parties except the Republicans supported it in the Minneapolis referendum.
Law and government
As in the national government of the United States, power in Minnesota is divided into three main branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.Executive
The executive branch is headed by GovernorGovernor of Minnesota
The Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
Mark Dayton
Mark Dayton
Mark Brandt Dayton is an American politician, the 40th and current Governor of the state of Minnesota. Dayton previously served as United States Senator from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007 in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses...
, whose term began on January 3, 2011. Dayton is the first member of the DFL
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
to be elected to that post since Rudy Perpich
Rudy Perpich
Rudolph George "Rudy" Perpich, Sr. was an American politician and the longest-serving governor of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, he served as the 34th and 36th Governor of Minnesota from December 29, 1976 to January 4, 1979, and from January 3, 1983, to January 7, 1991...
left office in 1991. The Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota is Yvonne Prettner Solon
Yvonne Prettner Solon
Yvonne Prettner Solon is the 47th and current Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. She is the sixth consecutive woman to serve in that capacity and is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.-Education:...
. The offices of governor and lieutenant governor have four-year terms and are elected as a single ticket. The governor has a cabinet consisting of the leaders of various government agencies in the state, called commissioners. The other constitutional offices are secretary of state, Mark Ritchie
Mark Ritchie
Donald Mark Ritchie was elected the 21st Minnesota Secretary of State on November 7, 2006. He was re-elected in 2010. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He grew up in Iowa, and graduated from Iowa State University in 1971...
, attorney general, Lori Swanson
Lori Swanson
Lori Swanson is the Attorney General of the US state of Minnesota. She was elected on November 7, 2006, and took office on January 2, 2007, succeeding Mike Hatch, who declined to run for re-election in order to run for governor...
, and state auditor
Minnesota State Auditor
The Minnesota State Auditor is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. State of Minnesota. The State Auditor is charged with overseeing more than $20 billion spent annually by local governments in Minnesota...
, Rebecca Otto
Rebecca Otto
Rebecca Otto is the State Auditor of the U.S. state of Minnesota. She is affiliated with the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party . She also served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2003 – 2005 and on the Forest Lake School Board. Before entering politics, she was a science...
.
Legislative
Minnesota Legislature
The Minnesota Legislature is the legislative branch of government in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is a bicameral legislature located at the Minnesota Capitol in Saint Paul and it consists of two houses: the lower Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate...
is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate
Minnesota Senate
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house in the Minnesota Legislature. There are 67 members, half as many as are in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In terms of membership, it is the largest upper house of any state legislature. Each Senate district in the state includes an A and B House...
and the House of Representatives
Minnesota House of Representatives
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house in the Minnesota State Legislature. There are 134 members elected to two-year terms, twice the number of members in the Minnesota Senate. Each senate district is divided in half and given the suffix A or B...
. The state has 67 districts, each covering about 73,500 people. Each district has one senator and two representatives (each district being divided into A and B sections). Senators serve for four years and representatives for two years.
The Legislature convenes in regular session each odd numbered year on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January. In the even numbered years, it convenes on a date set by joint agreement of both bodies. The state constitution limits the Legislature to meeting 120 legislative days during each biennium. In addition, the Legislature may not meet in regular session after the first Monday following the third Saturday in May of any year. During this time, the House or the Senate may not adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other body.
Composition of the Minnesota legislature
As the two tables below demonstrate, Minnesota's legislature is presently controlled by the Republican PartyRepublican Party of Minnesota
The Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
, which gained the majority in both houses following the 2010 general election, gaining 25 house seats and 16 senate seats. Previously, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...
had dominated the legislature, holding 87 house seats and 46 senate seats prior to the election.
The Minnesota House of Representatives
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Republican Party Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
72 | |
| DFL | 62 | |
| Seat Vacant | 0 | |
| Total | 134 | |
The Minnesota Senate
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Republican Party Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
37 | |
| DFL | 29 | |
| Seat Vacant | 1 | |
| Total | 67 | |
State judiciary
Minnesota's court system has three levels. Most cases start in the district courts, which are courts of general jurisdiction. There are 272 district court judges in ten judicial districts. Appeals from the trial courts and challenges to certain governmental decisions are heard by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, consisting sixteen judges who typically sit in three-judge panels. The seven-justice Minnesota Supreme CourtMinnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota and consists of seven members. The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a territory. The first members were lawyers from outside of the region who were appointed by...
hears all appeals from the Tax Court, the Worker's Compensation Court, first-degree murder convictions, and discretionary appeals from the Court of Appeals; it also has original jurisdiction
Original jurisdiction
The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.-France:...
over election disputes. All judges must stand for election the first state election after appointment by the governor, and periodically thereafter.
Regional government
Below the city and county levels of government found in the United States, Minnesota has other entities that provide governmental oversight and planning. Some actions in the Twin Cities metropolitan area are coordinated by the Metropolitan CouncilMetropolitan Council
The Metropolitan Council or Met Council is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. The Met Council is granted regional authority powers in state statutes by the Minnesota Legislature. These powers...
, and many lakes and rivers are overseen by watershed district
Watershed district
Watershed districts are special government entities in the U.S. state of Minnesota that monitor and regulate the use of water in watersheds surrounding various lakes and rivers in the state. The districts cover the natural regions of the watersheds, rather than politically-defined regions...
s and soil and water conservation districts.
There are seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities in Minnesota. These communities govern themselves independently.
Federal representation
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
are elected at large:
- Senior U.S. Senator Amy KlobucharAmy KlobucharAmy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party...
(DFL) - Junior U.S. Senator Al FrankenAl FrankenAlan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
(DFL)
Minnesota has eight congressional districts. There were 9th and 10th districts but they were eliminated in 1963 and 1933 respectively. Since the early 1960s, the state's congressional districts have been drawn by a bipartisan judicial panel due to the legislature's de facto abandonment of that duty. Due to slower than average population growth, it is expected that the state will lose one congressional district following the 2010 census.
U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
:
- Minnesota's 1st congressional districtMinnesota's 1st congressional districtMinnesota's 1st congressional district extends across southern Minnesota from the border with South Dakota to the border with Wisconsin. The First District is primarily a rural district built on a strong history of agriculture, although this is changing rapidly due to strong population growth in...
extends across southern MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
from the border with South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
to the border of WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
– Rep. Tim WalzTim WalzTimothy James Walz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .The district comprises the state's southern end, running along the entire border with Iowa...
(DFL). - Minnesota's 2nd congressional districtMinnesota's 2nd congressional districtMinnesota’s 2nd congressional district covers the south Twin Cities metro area and contains all of Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, Goodhue and Rice Counties. It also contains most of Dakota County and south Washington County including the cities of Cottage Grove and the southern part of Woodbury...
spans the width of the entire southern metro area and contains all of CarverCarver County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 70,205 people, 24,356 households, and 18,778 families residing in the county. The population density was 197 people per square mile . There were 24,883 housing units at an average density of 70 per square mile...
, ScottScott County, MinnesotaScott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was organized in 1853 and named in honor of General Winfield Scott. As of 2010, the population was 129,928. Its county seat is Shakopee...
, Le SueurLe Sueur County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 25,426 people, 9,630 households, and 6,923 families residing in the county. The population density was 57 people per square mile . There were 10,858 housing units at an average density of 24 per square mile...
, GoodhueGoodhue County, MinnesotaGoodhue County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 46,183. Its county seat is Red Wing. Nearly all of Prairie Island Indian Community is within the county.-History:...
and RiceRice County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 56,665 people, 18,888 households, and 13,353 families residing in the county. The population density was 114 people per square mile . There were 20,061 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile...
Counties – Rep. John KlineJohn Kline (politician)John Paul Kline is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. The district includes most of the southern suburbs of the Twin Cities, including Apple Valley, Inver Grove Heights, Burnsville and Eagan. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:Kline was born...
(Republican). - Minnesota's 3rd congressional districtMinnesota's 3rd congressional districtMinnesota's 3rd congressional district is one of the most affluent in the state, encompassing the suburbs of Hennepin County to the north, west, and south of Minneapolis...
encompasses the suburbs of Hennepin CountyHennepin County, MinnesotaHennepin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, named in honor of the 17th-century explorer Father Louis Hennepin. As of 2010 the population was 1,152,425. Its county seat is Minneapolis. It is by far the most populous county in Minnesota; more than one in five Minnesotans live...
to the north, west, and south of Minneapolis – Rep. Erik PaulsenErik PaulsenErik Paulsen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives...
(Republican). - Minnesota's 4th congressional districtMinnesota's 4th congressional districtMinnesota's 4th congressional district covers Ramsey County including all of St. Paul and several St. Paul suburbs. The district is solidly Democratic with a CPVI of D + 13. It is currently represented by Betty McCollum, of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.-List of...
covers most of Ramsey CountyRamsey County, MinnesotaRamsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1849. As of 2010, the population was 508,640. Its county seat is St. Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital. The county is named for Alexander Ramsey , the first governor of the Minnesota Territory...
including all of St. Paul and several St. Paul suburbs – Rep. Betty McCollumBetty McCollumBetty Louise McCollum is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2001. She is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party ....
(DFL). - Minnesota's 5th congressional districtMinnesota's 5th congressional districtMinnesota's 5th congressional district is a geographically small urban and suburban congressional district in Minnesota. It covers eastern Hennepin County, including the entire city of Minneapolis, along with parts of Anoka and Ramsey counties. It was created in 1883 and was named the "Bloody...
covers eastern Hennepin County, including the entire city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, along with parts of AnokaAnoka County, MinnesotaAnoka County is the fourth-most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the counties of Isanti on the north, Chisago and Washington on the east, Hennepin and Ramsey on the south, Sherburne on the west, and the Mississippi River on the southwest.As of 2010, Anoka...
and RamseyRamsey County, MinnesotaRamsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1849. As of 2010, the population was 508,640. Its county seat is St. Paul, which is also Minnesota's state capital. The county is named for Alexander Ramsey , the first governor of the Minnesota Territory...
counties – Rep. Keith EllisonKeith Ellison (politician)Keith Maurice Ellison is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. The district centers on Minneapolis. He was re-elected in 2010. Ellison is a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.He is the first Muslim to be elected to the...
(DFL). - Minnesota's 6th congressional districtMinnesota's 6th congressional districtMinnesota's 6th congressional district includes most or all of Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, Anoka, and Washington counties. The district is Republican-leaning with a CPVI of R + 7. It is currently represented by Republican Michele Bachmann....
includes most or all of BentonBenton County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 34,226 people, 13,065 households, and 8,518 families residing in the county. The population density was 84 people per square mile . There were 13,460 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
, SherburneSherburne County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 64,417 people, 21,581 households, and 16,746 families residing in the county. The population density was 148 people per square mile . There were 22,827 housing units at an average density of 52 per square mile...
, StearnsStearns County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 133,166 people, 47,604 households, and 32,132 families residing in the county. The population density was 99 people per square mile . There were 50,291 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile...
, WrightWright County, MinnesotaWright County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota, founded in 1855. As of 2010, the population was 124,700. Its county seat is Buffalo.-History:...
, AnokaAnoka County, MinnesotaAnoka County is the fourth-most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the counties of Isanti on the north, Chisago and Washington on the east, Hennepin and Ramsey on the south, Sherburne on the west, and the Mississippi River on the southwest.As of 2010, Anoka...
, and WashingtonWashington County, MinnesotaWashington County is a county established in 1849 in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 238,136. Its county seat is Stillwater.-History:...
counties – Rep. Michele BachmannMichele BachmannMichele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
(Republican). - Minnesota's 7th congressional districtMinnesota's 7th congressional districtMinnesota's 7th congressional district covers almost all of the western side of Minnesota except for the far south, which is located in the 1st district. It is by far the state's largest district, and has a very rural character. Cities in the district include Moorhead, Fergus Falls, Alexandria and...
covers almost all of the western side of MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
from the Canadian border down to Lincoln CountyLincoln County, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 6,429 people, 2,653 households, and 1,785 families residing in the county. The population density was 12 people per square mile . There were 3,043 housing units at an average density of 6 per square mile...
and is the largest district in the state – Rep. Collin PetersonCollin PetersonCollin Clark Peterson , is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1991, and the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and is the dean of the Minnesota congressional delegation.The district, Minnesota's largest and most rural...
(DFL). - Minnesota's 8th congressional districtMinnesota's 8th congressional districtMinnesota's 8th congressional district covers the northeastern part of Minnesota. It is anchored by Duluth, Minnesota which is the fourth largest city in state. It also includes most of the Mesabi and Vermilion iron ranges. The district is best-known for its mining, agriculture, tourism, and...
covers the northeastern part of MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and includes DuluthDuluth, MinnesotaDuluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, HibbingHibbing, MinnesotaHibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S...
, and the Mesabi RangeMesabi RangeThe Mesabi Iron Range is a vast deposit of iron ore and the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. Discovered in 1866, it is the chief deposit of iron ore in the United States. The deposit is located in northeast Minnesota, largely in...
– Rep. Chip CravaackChip CravaackRaymond "Chip" Cravaack is the U.S. Representative for northeastern serving since January 2011. In his first try for political office, he upset 18-term Democratic incumbent Jim Oberstar by a margin of 4,400 votes to become the first Republican since 1947 to represent the district...
(Republican).
| Representatives' Political Persuasion – the 111th Congress 111th United States Congress The One Hundred Eleventh United States Congress was the meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009 until January 3, 2011. It began during the last two weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with the remainder spanning the first two years of... |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MN District | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | Class 1 Senator | Class 2 Senator |
| Representative | Tim Walz Tim Walz Timothy James Walz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .The district comprises the state's southern end, running along the entire border with Iowa... |
John Kline John Kline (politician) John Paul Kline is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. The district includes most of the southern suburbs of the Twin Cities, including Apple Valley, Inver Grove Heights, Burnsville and Eagan. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:Kline was born... |
Erik Paulsen Erik Paulsen Erik Paulsen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives... |
Betty McCollum Betty McCollum Betty Louise McCollum is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2001. She is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party .... |
Keith Ellison Keith Ellison (politician) Keith Maurice Ellison is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. The district centers on Minneapolis. He was re-elected in 2010. Ellison is a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.He is the first Muslim to be elected to the... |
Michele Bachmann Michele Bachmann Michele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a... |
Collin Peterson Collin Peterson Collin Clark Peterson , is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1991, and the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and is the dean of the Minnesota congressional delegation.The district, Minnesota's largest and most rural... |
Jim Oberstar Jim Oberstar James Louis "Jim" Oberstar is a former U.S. Representative who served in the U.S. Congress from 1975 until 2011 as a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. He represented northeastern , which included the cities of Duluth, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, International Falls, and Hibbing... |
Amy Klobuchar Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party... |
Al Franken Al Franken Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.... |
| Conservative Test | 10% | 93.33% | TBD | 2.75% | 0% | 100% | 45.41% | 10.93% | 10% | TBD |
| Progressive Test | 92.28% | 2.72% | 10.53% | 94.3% | 98.38% | 2.44% | 62.5% | 88.68% | 89.46% | 95.12 |
| CPVI | R+1 | R+3 | R+0 | D+13 | D+21 | R+5 | R+6 | D+4 | D+3 | D+3 |
See also
- Split-ticket votingSplit-ticket votingIn American politics, a split-ticket refers to a ballot on which the voter has chosen candidates from different political parties when multiple offices are being decided by a single election...
- Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
- Republican Party of MinnesotaRepublican Party of MinnesotaThe Republican Party of Minnesota is the Minnesota branch of the United States Republican Party. Elected by the party’s state central committee in June 2009, its chairman is Tony Sutton, and its deputy-chairman is Michael Brodkorb.-Early history:...
- Minnesota Congressional DistrictsMinnesota Congressional DistrictsMinnesota currently has eight congressional districts. There were 9th and 10th districts but they were eliminated in 1963 and 1933 respectively...
- United States Congressional Delegations from MinnesotaUnited States Congressional Delegations from MinnesotaThese are tables of congressional delegations from Minnesota to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Minnesota became a state on May 11, 1858.-United States Senate:- Delegates from Minnesota Territory :...
- List of United States Senators from Minnesota
- Governor of MinnesotaGovernor of MinnesotaThe Governor of Minnesota is the chief executive of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty different people have been governors of the state, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. Alexander Ramsey, the first territorial...
- Minnesota LegislatureMinnesota LegislatureThe Minnesota Legislature is the legislative branch of government in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is a bicameral legislature located at the Minnesota Capitol in Saint Paul and it consists of two houses: the lower Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate...
- List of politics by U.S. state
- Minnesota Congressional Districts Map
- Political party strength in MinnesotaPolitical party strength in MinnesotaThe following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Minnesota:*Governor*Lieutenant Governor*Secretary of State*Attorney General*State Auditor*State TreasurerThe table also indicates the historical party composition in the:...
- List of political parties in Minnesota