Biden wins Minnesota
In September, President Donald Trump told Minnesotans they have a choice: vote for me or else.
“What we’ve done for Minnesota … I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back,” Trump said. “I don’t care. I’m never coming back.”
On Tuesday night, Minnesotans rebuked the president, who hoped to turn Minnesota into a swing state, by a margin of seven points.
Unlike in 2016, when Trump came within 1.5 percentage points of defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump lost a significant amount of ground in the state. As MinnPost’s Greta Kaul points out: “Trump got more votes in Minnesota in 2020 than he did in 2016. But Biden got way more than Clinton did.”
All of this means that Biden gets Minnesota’s 10 electoral college votes. Based on current ballot counts, the race will be decided by the vote count in Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. (Update: As of Friday morning, Biden had moved ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia. He was also leading in Arizona and Nevada.) Additionally, legal challenges could alter the outcome of the race, if a judge decides to throw out ballots for one reason or another.
Back to Congress
Tuesday night was a big night for congressional incumbents in Minnesota, who all won re-election, save one: Rep. Collin Peterson in Minnesota’s Seventh District. Peterson, a 15-term incumbent, was defeated by former Lt. Governor Michelle Fischbach.
As of Thursday afternoon, only one race was too close to call for the Associated Press: Minnesota’s First District. However, the race seemed to favor Rep. Jim Hagedorn over his DFL challenger Dan Feehan by about 3 percentage points.
Elsewhere in the state:
- Sen. Tina Smith defeated Republican challenger Jason Lewis.
- Rep. Angie Craig in Minnesota’s Second defeated her Republican challenger Tyler Kistner.
- Rep. Dean Phillips in Minnesota’s Third defeated his Republican challenger Kendall Qualls.
- Rep. Betty McCollum in Minnesota’s Fourth defeated her Republican challenger Gene Rechtzigel.
- Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s Fifth defeated her Republican challenger Lacey Johnson.
- Rep. Tom Emmer in Minnesota’s Sixth defeated his DFL challenger Tawnja Zahradka.
- Rep. Pete Stauber in Minnesota’s Eighth defeated his DFL challenger Quinn Nystrom.
If you want to take a look at the current numbers, MinnPost’s Election Night dashboard is a good place to start.
By the numbers
- 1,000: In Georgia, the presidential race could come down to 1,000 votes, the state’s Deputy Secretary of State told AP.
- 57%: Biden’s advantage with suburban voters soared passed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 49%. Read Greta Kaul here.
- 1,000,000: Since March 16, more than a million people have applied for unemployment in Minnesota.
In other news
- Walker Orenstein for MinnPost:What we learned from the Greater Minnesota vote in 2020
- Peter Callaghan for MinnPost: The big winner in the race for the Minnesota Legislature: divided government
- Katie Galioto and Brooks Johnson for The Strib: Despite attention, Trump gained little ground on Iron Range
Quote of the week
“Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process,” read a number of President Donald Trump’s tweets, after he continued to spread election misinformation. The original tweet can still be viewed by clicking on the disclaimer.
What I’m reading
Edward Ongweso Jr for Motherboard: Proposition 22 Passes, But Uber and Lyft Are Only Delaying the Inevitable
Prop 22, which creates a “third-way” labor status, passed in California. The proposition is a huge win for rideshare companies, who saw their stocks soar as votes were counted. But legal challenges around the world will likely result in the companies’ downfall.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for sticking around. Until next week, feel free to send tips, suggestions, and sound advice to: gschneider@minnpost.com. Follow at @gabemschneider. And don’t forget to become a MinnPost member.
