2012 Minnesota House of Representatives election

The 2012 Minnesota House of Representatives election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 6, 2012, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the 88th Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held in several districts on August 14, 2012.

2012 Minnesota House of Representatives election

← 2010 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2014 →
All 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives 68 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Paul Thissen Kurt Zellers Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Leader since January 4, 2011 June 23, 2009 Leader's seat 61B–Minneapolis 34B–Maple Grove Last election 62 seats, 48.49% 72 seats, 50.44% Seats won 73 61 Seat change 11 11 Popular vote 1,468,364 1,233,214 Percentage 53.74% 45.13% Swing 5.25 pp 5.31 pp
Results by winning party vote share Results by gains and holds
Speaker before election Kurt Zellers Republican Elected Speaker Paul Thissen Democratic (DFL)

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) won a majority of seats, defeating the majority of the Republican Party of Minnesota.^[1] This was the first election for the Republicans since it won a majority of seats in the 2010 election, after losing a majority to the DFL in the 2006 election. The new Legislature convened on January 8, 2013.

Primary election results

District	Party	Candidates	Votes	%
2B	Republican	Steve Green	790	53.45
		David Collins	688	46.55
	DFL	Brita Sailer	1,188	100.00
4A	Republican	Travis Reimche	768	69.44
		Ken Lucier	262	23.69
		Benjamin Larson	76	6.87
	DFL	Ben Lien	853	74.30
		Sue Wiger	295	25.70
6B	Republican	Jesse Colangelo	689	64.21
		Dan Darbo	384	35.79
	DFL	Jason Metsa	3,396	53.96
		Lorrie Janatopoulos	2,590	41.16
		Dave Meyer	307	4.88
7A	Republican	Therese Bower	400	100.00
	DFL	Tom Huntley	3,337	81.51
		Brandon Clokey	757	18.49
8B	Republican	Mary Franson	1,167	100.00
	DFL	Bob Cunniff	1,342	75.82
		Bruce Campbell	428	24.18
10B	Republican	Dale Lueck	1,538	100.00
	DFL	Joe Radinovich	2,422	76.00
		David Schaaf	765	24.00
11A	Independence	Cory Pylkka	27	100.00
	Republican	Jim Putnam	621	100.00
	DFL	Mike Sundin	2,364	57.60
		Bruce Ahlgren	1,740	42.40
11B	Republican	Ben Wiener	1,848	57.39
		Mitch Pangerl	1,372	42.61
	DFL	Tim Faust	2,193	62.57
		Nathan Johnson	1,312	37.43
15B	Republican	Jim Newberger	679	100.00
	DFL	Brian Johnson	480	77.80
		Bruno Gad	137	22.20
17B	Independence	Zachary Liebl	63	100.00
	Republican	Bruce Vogel	689	100.00
	DFL	Mary Sawatzky	1,994	65.92
		Jessica Rohloff	1,031	34.08
24A	Republican	John Petersburg	1,488	66.10
		Larry Johnson	763	33.90
	DFL	Craig Brenden	484	100.00
33B	Republican	Cindy Pugh	2,251	70.34
		Steve Smith	949	29.66
	DFL	Denise Bader	681	100.00
35B	Republican	Peggy Scott	987	100.00
	DFL	Sam Scott	497	70.80
		Samuel Beard	205	29.20
37B	Republican	Tim Sanders	978	89.72
		Torey Hall	112	10.28
	DFL	Jon Chlebeck	522	100.00
43A	Republican	Stacey Stout	774	100.00
	DFL	Peter Fischer	1,534	53.67
		Bob Hill	1,324	46.33
43B	Republican	Kevin Klein	336	55.45
		Bob Zick	270	44.55
	DFL	Leon Lillie	1,224	100.00
51A	Republican	Diane Anderson	979	100.00
	DFL	Sandra Masin	828	88.09
		Milton Walden	112	11.91
52A	Republican	Joe Blum	704	53.74
		David Meisinger	606	46.26
	DFL	Rick Hansen	1,242	100.00
55B	Republican	Tony Albright	897	78.75
		Tim Jesperson	242	21.25
	DFL	Travis Burton	449	100.00
59A	Republican	Cindy Lilly	225	100.00
	DFL	Joe Mullery	1,441	77.27
		Marcus Harcus	424	22.73
59B	Republican	Gary Mazzotta	98	55.37
		Bill McGaughey	79	44.63
	DFL	Raymond Dehn	877	37.15
		Terra Cole	857	36.30
		Ian Alexander	627	26.56

Source: Minnesota Secretary of State^[2]

General election

Opinion polling

Polling firm/client	Polling period	Sample size	Margin of error (pp)	Republican	DFL	Independence	Other	Undecided
SurveyUSA/KSTP-TV[3]	November 1–3, 2012	556 LV	±4.2	40%	48%	6%	6%	1%
SurveyUSA/KSTP-TV[4]	October 26–28, 2012	574 LV	±4.2	40%	45%	8%	6%	1%
SurveyUSA/KSTP-TV[5]	October 12–14, 2012	550 LV	±4.3	36%	45%	8%	3%	9%
Public Policy Polling[6]	October 5–8, 2012	937 LV	±3.2	40%	52%	—	—	8%
Public Policy Polling[7]	September 10–11, 2012	824 LV	±3.4	44%	47%	—	—	9%
SurveyUSA/KSTP-TV[8]	September 6–9, 2012	551 LV	±4.3	38%	45%	6%	3%	9%
SurveyUSA/KSTP-TV[9]	July 17–19, 2012	552 LV	±4.3	40%	45%	8%	2%	6%
Public Policy Polling[10]	May 31 – June 3, 2012	973	±3.1	36%	48%	—	—	16%
Public Policy Polling[11]	January 21–22, 2012	1,236	±2.8	39%	48%	—	—	14%
Public Policy Polling[12]	May 27–30, 2011	1,179	±2.9	40%	49%	—	—	11%

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[13]	Tossup	October 24, 2012

Results

Districts won.

Summary of the November 6, 2012 Minnesota House of Representatives election results

Party		Candidates	Votes			Seats
			No.	%	∆pp	No.	∆No.	%
	Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party	132	1,468,364	53.74	5.25	73	11	54.48
	Republican Party of Minnesota	132	1,233,214	45.13	5.31	61	11	45.52
	Independence Party of Minnesota	10	13,585	0.50	0.10	0		0.00
	Constitution Party of Minnesota	2	3,626	0.13	0.06	0		0.00
	Ecology Democracy Party	1	1,423	0.05	0.05	0		0.00
	Independent	1	2,303	0.08	0.09	0		0.00
	Write-in	N/A	9,918	0.36	0.18	0		0.00
Total			2,732,433	100.00	±0.00	134	±0	100.00
Invalid/blank votes			218,347	7.40	4.13
Turnout (out of 3,861,043 eligible voters)[14]			2,950,780	76.42	20.59
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State,[15] Minnesota Legislative Reference Library[16]

District results

District	Candidates	Party	Votes	%	Winner Party
1A	Dan Fabian	Republican	11,146	60.17	Republican
	Bruce Patterson	DFL	7,370	39.78
1B	Deb Kiel	Republican	9,401	51.90	Republican
	Marc Demers	DFL	8,685	47.95
2A	Roger Erickson	DFL	10,730	54.60	DFL
	Dave Hancock	Republican	8,901	45.29
2B	Steve Green	Republican	9,759	50.96	Republican
	Brita Sailer	DFL	9,376	48.96
3A	David Dill	DFL	14,671	66.75	DFL
	Jim Tuomala	Republican	7,228	32.88
3B	Mary Murphy	DFL	14,366	64.93	DFL
	Keith MacDonald	Republican	7,727	34.93
4A	Ben Lien	DFL	10,011	54.80	DFL
	Travis Reimche	Republican	8,218	44.99
4B	Paul Marquart	DFL	12,637	65.23	DFL
	Paul Sandman	Republican	6,719	34.68
5A	John Persell	DFL	10,901	56.12	DFL
	Larry Howes	Republican	8,497	43.75
5B	Tom Anzelc	DFL	11,162	53.41	DFL
	Carolyn McElfatrick	Republican	9,707	46.45
6A	Carly Melin	DFL	14,589	70.79	DFL
	Roger Weber	Republican	5,989	29.06
6B	Jason Metsa	DFL	15,146	68.17	DFL
	Jesse Colangelo	Republican	7,012	31.56
7A	Tom Huntley	DFL	15,622	70.88	DFL
	Therese Bower	Republican	6,302	28.59
7B	Erik Simonson	DFL	12,450	62.49	DFL
	Travis Silvers	Republican	4,345	21.81
8A	Bud Nornes	Republican	13,190	62.77	Republican
	Chester Nettestad	DFL	7,800	37.12
8B	Mary Franson	Republican	10,642	49.98	Republican
	Bob Cunniff	DFL	10,630	49.93
9A	Mark Anderson	Republican	10,972	57.97	Republican
	Don Niles	DFL	7,922	41.86
9B	Ron Kresha	Republican	9,881	52.97	Republican
	Adrian Welle	DFL	8,751	46.91
10A	John Ward	DFL	11,789	56.98	DFL
	Chris Kellett	Republican	8,872	42.88
10B	Joe Radinovich	DFL	11,087	50.69	DFL
	Dale Lueck	Republican	10,764	49.22
11A	Mike Sundin	DFL	12,610	63.87	DFL
	Jim Putnam	Republican	5,931	30.04
	Cory Pylkka	Independence	1,164	5.90
11B	Tim Faust	DFL	9,396	51.23	DFL
	Ben Wiener	Republican	8,908	48.57
12A	Jay McNamar	DFL	10,092	47.49	DFL
	Scott Dutcher	Republican	9,837	46.29
	Dave Holman	Independence	1,305	6.14
12B	Paul Anderson	Republican	13,043	66.33	Republican
	Rick Rosenfield	DFL	6,611	33.62
13A	Jeff Howe	Republican	12,073	59.08	Republican
	Richard Bohannon	DFL	8,337	40.80
13B	Tim O'Driscoll	Republican	12,076	60.22	Republican
	Shannon Schroeder	DFL	7,946	39.62
14A	Steve Gottwalt	Republican	10,269	53.90	Republican
	Anne Nolan	DFL	8,726	45.80
14B	Zach Dorholt	DFL	10,017	56.22	DFL
	King Banaian	Republican	7,749	43.49
15A	Sondra Erickson	Republican	10,027	52.36	Republican
	Joe Walsh	DFL	9,106	47.55
15B	Jim Newberger	Republican	11,414	57.77	Republican
	Brian Johnson	DFL	8,316	42.09
16A	Chris Swedzinski	Republican	10,991	56.72	Republican
	Al Kruse	DFL	8,363	43.16
16B	Paul Torkelson	Republican	11,243	56.14	Republican
	James Kanne	DFL	6,466	32.29
	Jerry Pagel	Independent	2,303	11.50
17A	Andrew Falk	DFL	10,489	53.86	DFL
	Tim Miller	Republican	8,956	45.99
17B	Mary Sawatzky	DFL	9,370	48.30	DFL
	Bruce Vogel	Republican	8,562	44.13
	Zachary Liebl	Independence	1,457	7.51
18A	Dean Urdahl	Republican	11,744	58.28	Republican
	Nancy Larson	DFL	8,372	41.55
18B	Glenn Gruenhagen	Republican	11,053	58.00	Republican
	Logan Campa	DFL	7,971	41.83
19A	Terry Morrow	DFL	17,263	97.65	DFL
19B	Kathy Brynaert	DFL	11,897	63.93	DFL
	Thad Shunkwiler	Republican	6,660	35.79
20A	Kelby Woodard	Republican	10,878	54.46	Republican
	Ryan Wolf	DFL	9,071	45.41
20B	David Bly	DFL	11,700	56.90	DFL
	Brian Wermerskirchen	Republican	8,843	43.00
21A	Tim Kelly	Republican	12,174	57.49	Republican
	John Bacon	DFL	8,969	42.35
21B	Steve Drazkowski	Republican	11,759	57.95	Republican
	Bruce Montplaisir	DFL	8,511	41.94
22A	Joe Schomacker	Republican	11,555	59.01	Republican
	Eugene Short	DFL	8,006	40.88
22B	Rod Hamilton	Republican	10,165	60.06	Republican
	Cheryl Avenel-Navara	DFL	6,745	39.85
23A	Bob Gunther	Republican	11,544	56.39	Republican
	Kevin Labenz	DFL	8,908	43.51
23B	Tony Cornish	Republican	16,278	96.25	Republican
24A	John Petersburg	Republican	9,906	52.18	Republican
	Craig Brenden	DFL	9,036	47.60
24B	Patti Fritz	DFL	9,988	56.71	DFL
	Dan Kaiser	Republican	7,608	43.20
25A	Duane Quam	Republican	11,056	54.55	Republican
	John Vossen	DFL	9,188	45.34
25B	Kim Norton	DFL	11,869	57.53	DFL
	Melissa Valeriano	Republican	8,725	42.29
26A	Tina Liebling	DFL	10,484	58.80	DFL
	Breanna Bly	Republican	7,306	40.97
26B	Mike Benson	Republican	12,427	57.10	Republican
	Pat Stallman	DFL	9,295	42.71
27A	Shannon Savick	DFL	9,743	47.70	DFL
	Rich Murray	Republican	9,090	44.50
	William Wagner	Independence	1,574	7.71
27B	Jeanne Poppe	DFL	11,486	62.78	DFL
	Nathan Neitzell	Republican	6,792	37.12
28A	Gene Pelowski	DFL	12,969	66.68	DFL
	Adam Pace	Republican	6,435	33.08
28B	Greg Davids	Republican	12,006	58.22	Republican
	Ken Tschumper	DFL	8,542	41.42
29A	Joe McDonald	Republican	13,002	61.94	Republican
	Susann Dye	DFL	7,954	37.89
29B	Marion O'Neill	Republican	9,654	50.15	Republican
	Barrett Chrissis	DFL	8,136	42.26
	Eugene Newcombe	Independence	1,429	7.42
30A	Nick Zerwas	Republican	12,723	63.74	Republican
	Holly Neuman	DFL	7,217	36.16
30B	David FitzSimmons	Republican	12,022	61.84	Republican
	Sharon Shimek	DFL	7,386	37.99
31A	Kurt Daudt	Republican	11,990	60.42	Republican
	Ryan Fiereck	DFL	7,823	39.42
31B	Tom Hackbarth	Republican	13,101	60.84	Republican
	Louise Fay Woodberry	DFL	8,391	38.97
32A	Brian Johnson	Republican	10,014	51.37	Republican
	Paul Gammel	DFL	8,601	44.13
	Paul Bergley	Constitution	851	4.37
32B	Bob Barrett	Republican	10,644	50.87	Republican
	Rick Olseen	DFL	10,251	49.00
33A	Jerry Hertaus	Republican	14,717	62.09	Republican
	Todd Mikkelson	DFL	8,963	37.81
33B	Cindy Pugh	Republican	13,211	54.36	Republican
	Denise Bader	DFL	11,053	45.48
34A	Joyce Peppin	Republican	14,386	64.24	Republican
	Adam Fisher	DFL	7,983	35.65
34B	Kurt Zellers	Republican	12,802	54.52	Republican
	David Hoden	DFL	10,652	45.36
35A	Jim Abeler	Republican	11,906	58.71	Republican
	Andy Hillebregt	DFL	6,755	33.31
	Justin Boals	Independence	1,587	7.83
35B	Peggy Scott	Republican	13,120	59.09	Republican
	Sam Scott	DFL	9,052	40.77
36A	Mark Uglem	Republican	10,691	51.00	Republican
	Grace Baltich	DFL	10,235	48.83
36B	Melissa Hortman	DFL	11,679	55.22	DFL
	Andrew Reinhardt	Republican	8,555	40.45
	Andrew Kratoska	Independence	891	4.21
37A	Jerry Newton	DFL	11,843	57.18	DFL
	Mandy Benz	Republican	8,830	42.64
37B	Tim Sanders	Republican	11,416	53.90	Republican
	Jon Chlebeck	DFL	9,723	45.90
38A	Linda Runbeck	Republican	12,197	58.00	Republican
	Patrick Davern	DFL	8,802	41.85
38B	Matt Dean	Republican	12,374	52.30	Republican
	Greg Pariseau	DFL	11,248	47.54
39A	Bob Dettmer	Republican	13,033	57.41	Republican
	John Bruno	DFL	9,638	42.45
39B	Kathy Lohmer	Republican	12,100	52.99	Republican
	Tom DeGree	DFL	10,707	46.89
40A	Mike Nelson	DFL	11,972	97.18	DFL
40B	Debra Hilstrom	DFL	12,024	71.24	DFL
	Richard Cushing	Republican	4,810	28.50
41A	Connie Bernardy	DFL	12,653	61.65	DFL
	Dale Helm	Republican	7,829	38.15
41B	Carolyn Laine	DFL	11,943	58.50	DFL
	Laura Palmer	Republican	5,669	27.77
	Tim Utz	Constitution	2,775	13.59
42A	Barb Yarusso	DFL	12,122	53.30	DFL
	Russ Bertsch	Republican	10,591	46.56
42B	Jason Isaacson	DFL	12,884	57.53	DFL
	Ken Rubenzer	Republican	9,462	42.25
43A	Peter Fischer	DFL	11,616	52.71	DFL
	Stacey Stout	Republican	10,374	47.08
43B	Leon Lillie	DFL	12,445	60.42	DFL
	Kevin Klein	Republican	8,111	39.38
44A	Sarah Anderson	Republican	12,114	51.22	Republican
	Audrey Britton	DFL	11,506	48.65
44B	John Benson	DFL	13,754	55.82	DFL
	Mark Stefan	Republican	10,848	44.03
45A	Lyndon Carlson	DFL	12,520	59.59	DFL
	Jeff Pauley	Republican	8,459	40.26
45B	Mike Freiberg	DFL	15,053	65.95	DFL
	Reid Johnson	Republican	7,740	33.91
46A	Ryan Winkler	DFL	15,249	65.89	DFL
	John Swanson	Republican	7,860	33.96
46B	Steve Simon	DFL	14,956	69.98	DFL
	David Arvidson	Republican	6,372	29.81
47A	Ernie Leidiger	Republican	12,938	62.53	Republican
	Keith Pickering	DFL	7,718	37.30
47B	Joe Hoppe	Republican	16,391	97.15	Republican
48A	Yvonne Selcer	DFL	12,458	50.34	DFL
	Kirk Stensrud	Republican	12,256	49.52
48B	Jenifer Loon	Republican	12,787	58.91	Republican
	Tori Hill	DFL	8,891	40.96
49A	Ron Erhardt	DFL	14,101	55.79	DFL
	Bill Glahn	Republican	11,139	44.07
49B	Paul Rosenthal	DFL	13,560	53.31	DFL
	Terry Jacobson	Republican	11,840	46.55
50A	Linda Slocum	DFL	12,036	62.14	DFL
	Craig Marston	Republican	5,864	30.28
	Joseph Koch	Independence	1,439	7.43
50B	Ann Lenczewski	DFL	14,800	65.27	DFL
	Richard Bohnen	Republican	7,836	34.56
51A	Sandra Masin	DFL	11,724	55.49	DFL
	Diane Anderson	Republican	9,354	44.28
51B	Laurie Halverson	DFL	12,210	51.88	DFL
	Doug Wardlow	Republican	11,298	48.01
52A	Rick Hansen	DFL	13,732	62.45	DFL
	Joe Blum	Republican	8,216	37.36
52B	Joe Atkins	DFL	14,493	66.02	DFL
	Paul Tuschy	Republican	7,430	33.85
53A	JoAnn Ward	DFL	11,932	56.19	DFL
	Pam Cunningham	Republican	9,269	43.65
53B	Andrea Kieffer	Republican	12,060	54.84	Republican
	Ann Marie Metzger	DFL	9,909	45.06
54A	Dan Schoen	DFL	11,069	54.82	DFL
	Derrick Lehrke	Republican	7,664	37.96
	Ron Lischeid	Independence	1,428	7.07
54B	Denny McNamara	Republican	12,493	57.43	Republican
	Joanna Bayers	DFL	9,228	42.42
55A	Mike Beard	Republican	10,008	54.55	Republican
	Chuck Berg	DFL	8,294	45.21
55B	Tony Albright	Republican	13,569	63.39	Republican
	Travis Burton	DFL	7,808	36.48
56A	Pam Myhra	Republican	10,905	53.93	Republican
	Dave John Jensen	DFL	9,278	45.88
56B	Will Morgan	DFL	10,685	50.32	DFL
	Roz Peterson	Republican	10,515	49.52
57A	Tara Mack	Republican	11,420	53.37	Republican
	Roberta Gibbons	DFL	9,941	46.46
57B	Anna Wills	Republican	11,906	53.18	Republican
	Jeff Wilfahrt	DFL	10,452	46.69
58A	Mary Liz Holberg	Republican	12,419	59.09	Republican
	Colin Lee	DFL	8,574	40.80
58B	Pat Garofalo	Republican	12,520	59.47	Republican
	Jim Arlt	DFL	8,512	40.44
59A	Joe Mullery	DFL	14,017	84.00	DFL
	Cindy Lilly	Republican	2,577	15.44
59B	Raymond Dehn	DFL	12,790	72.39	DFL
	Gary Mazzotta	Republican	3,346	18.94
	Anthony Hilton	Ecology Democracy	1,423	8.05
60A	Diane Loeffler	DFL	17,021	81.87	DFL
	Brent Millsop	Republican	3,687	17.73
60B	Phyllis Kahn	DFL	12,472	77.98	DFL
	Kody Zalewski	Republican	3,392	21.21
61A	Frank Hornstein	DFL	19,663	80.22	DFL
	Devin Gawnemark	Republican	4,787	19.53
61B	Paul Thissen	DFL	19,748	81.39	DFL
	Nate Atkins	Republican	4,448	18.33
62A	Karen Clark	DFL	12,672	89.56	DFL
	Kurt Hanna	Republican	1,410	9.97
62B	Susan Allen	DFL	16,318	88.63	DFL
	Tom Johnson	Republican	2,025	11.00
63A	Jim Davnie	DFL	19,680	85.42	DFL
	Kirk Brink	Republican	3,289	14.28
63B	Jean Wagenius	DFL	17,181	76.38	DFL
	Matt Ashley	Republican	5,240	23.30
64A	Erin Murphy	DFL	17,828	78.77	DFL
	Andrew Ojeda	Republican	4,737	20.93
64B	Michael Paymar	DFL	17,273	72.11	DFL
	Brandon Carmack	Republican	6,612	27.60
65A	Rena Moran	DFL	13,263	84.40	DFL
	Daniel Lipp	Republican	2,387	15.19
65B	Carlos Mariani	DFL	13,176	77.96	DFL
	Carlos Conway	Republican	3,653	21.62
66A	Alice Hausman	DFL	14,160	62.97	DFL
	Mark Fotsch	Republican	6,984	31.06
	Dave Thomas	Independence	1,311	5.83
66B	John Lesch	DFL	11,504	79.20	DFL
	Ben Blomgren	Republican	2,951	20.32
67A	Tim Mahoney	DFL	10,533	77.84	DFL
	Cathy Hennelly	Republican	2,941	21.73
67B	Sheldon Johnson	DFL	11,318	75.77	DFL
	John Quinn	Republican	3,569	23.89

See also

• Minnesota Senate election, 2012
• Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2010
• Minnesota elections, 2012