2016 Minnesota Senate election

The 2016 Minnesota Senate election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 8, 2016, to elect members to the Senate of the 90th and 91st Minnesota Legislatures. A primary election was held in several districts on August 9, 2016. The election coincided with the election of the other house of the Legislature, the House of Representatives.

2016 Minnesota Senate election

← 2012 November 8, 2016 (2016-11-08) 2020 →
All 67 seats in the Minnesota Senate 34 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader David Hann (lost re-election) Tom Bakk Party Republican Democratic (DFL) Leader since November 9, 2012 November 4, 2010 Leader's seat 48th–Eden Prairie 3rd–Cook Last election 28 seats, 43.49% 39 seats, 55.83% Seats won 34 33 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 1,377,128 1,409,775 Percentage 48.96 50.12 Swing 5.47 pp 5.71 pp
Results by district
Majority Leader before election Tom Bakk Democratic (DFL) Elected Majority Leader Paul Gazelka Republican

The Republican Party of Minnesota won a majority of seats, defeating the majority of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). This was the first election for the DFL since it won a majority of seats in the 2012 election, after losing a majority to the Republicans in the 2010 election. The new Legislature convened on January 3, 2017.

Background

The last election resulted in the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) winning a majority of seats, after losing a majority to the Republican Party of Minnesota only two years earlier in the previous election. This resulted in the Republicans losing the only majority they have had since the return of partisan elections to the Senate in 1976. In conjunction with the result of the House election, it also resulted in the return of all-DFL control of the Legislature since 2010 as well as the return of all-party and all-DFL control of the Legislature and governorship since 1990, which ended with the election of a Republican majority to the House in 2014.

Electoral system

The 67 members of the Senate were elected from single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting for four-year terms. Contested nominations of the DFL and Republican parties for each district were determined by an open primary election. Minor party and independent candidates were nominated by petition. Write-in candidates must have filed a request with the secretary of state's office for votes for them to have been counted.

Retiring members

DFL

• Terri Bonoff, 44th^[1]
• Barb Goodwin, 41st^[2]
• Alice Johnson, 37th^[3]
• Jim Metzen, 52nd^[4]
  • Died of lung cancer on July 11, 2016.^[5]
• Roger Reinert, 7th^[6]
• Bev Scalze, 42nd^[7]
• Kathy Sheran, 19th^[8]
• Katie Sieben, 54th^[9]
• LeRoy Stumpf, 1st^[10]

Republican

• Dave Brown, 15th^[11]
• Julianne Ortman, 47th^[12]
• John Pederson, 14th^[13]
• Dave Thompson, 58th^[14]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing[15]	Lean D	October 12, 2016

Competitive districts

According to MinnPost, the Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, and MPR News, a total of 19 districts were competitive. MinnPost considered 12 districts to be competitive—10 of which were held by the DFL and two by the Republicans,^[16] the Star Tribune 19—13 of which were held by the DFL and six by the Republicans,^[17] the Pioneer Press six—five of which were held by the DFL and one by the Republicans,^[18] and MPR News nine—seven of which were held by the DFL and two by the Republicans.^[19]

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	2012 result	MinnPost[16] (November 3, 2016)	Star Tribune[17] (September 16, 2016)	Pioneer Press[18] (October 18, 2016)	MPR News[19] (September 22, 2016)	Result
1	LeRoy Stumpf‡	DFL	1982	60.59%					Republican gain
2	Rod Skoe	DFL	2002	54.92%					Republican gain
4	Kent Eken	DFL	2012	52.17%					Hold
14	John Pederson‡	Republican	2010	52.47%					Hold
17	Lyle Koenen	DFL	2012*	55.40%					Republican gain
20	Kevin Dahle	DFL	2008*, 2012†	50.02%					Republican gain
21	Matt Schmit	DFL	2012	52.43%					Republican gain
24	Vicki Jensen	DFL	2012	52.60%					Republican gain
26	Carla Nelson	Republican	2010	55.62%					Hold
32	Sean Nienow§	Republican	2002, 2010†	54.25%					Hold
36	John Hoffman	DFL	2012	53.10%					Hold
37	Alice Johnson‡	DFL	2012	53.23%					Hold
44	Terri Bonoff‡	DFL	2005*	55.81%					Republican gain
48	David Hann	Republican	2002	51.32%					DFL gain
49	Melisa Franzen	DFL	2012	52.74%					Hold
53	Susan Kent	DFL	2012	52.13%					Hold
56	Dan Hall	Republican	2010	53.92%					Hold
57	Greg Clausen	DFL	2012	54.09%					Hold
58	Dave Thompson‡	Republican	2010	57.60%					DFL gain

*Elected in a special election.^[20]

†Elected to non-consecutive terms.^[21]

‡Retired; did not seek re-election.

§Lost primary election for party's nomination.

Primary elections results

District	Party	Candidates	Votes	%
1	Republican	Mark Johnson[22]	2,561	83.99
		Edwin Dale Hahn[23]	488	16.01
	DFL	Kip Fontaine[24]	2,369	77.47
		Jual Carlson[23]	689	22.53
5	Republican	Justin Eichorn[25]	1,485	73.26
		Pedie Pederson[26]	542	26.74
	DFL	Tom Saxhaug	2,140	100.00
15	Republican	Andrew Mathews[27]	1,938	63.92
		Dan Whitcomb[28]	1,094	36.08
	DFL	Chilah Brown[29]	657	58.71
		Rob Passons[30]	462	41.29
23	Republican	Julie Rosen	2,706	100.00
	DFL	Barbara Lake[31]	967	67.96
		John Lillis[31]	456	32.04
24	Republican	John Jasinski	983	100.00
	DFL	Vicki Jensen[32]	1,430	89.77
		Rich Bailey[33]	163	10.23
27	Republican	Gene Dornink[34]	948	69.15
		Cynthia Gail[35]	423	30.85
	DFL	Dan Sparks	1,379	100.00
32	Republican	Mark Koran[36]	1,709	63.39
		Sean Nienow[36]	987	36.61
	DFL	Tim Nelson	964	100.00
52	Republican	Mark Misukanis	2,482	100.00
	DFL	Matt Klein[37]	3,678	69.21
		Todd Podgorski[38]	1,636	30.79
53	Republican	Sharna Wahlgren[39]	745	65.81
		Bill Dahn[39]	387	34.19
	DFL	Susan Kent	2,290	100.00
59	Republican	Jennifer Carnahan	293	100.00
	DFL	Bobby Joe Champion[40]	4,020	81.99
		Patwin Lawrence[41]	883	18.01
62	Republican	Bruce Lundeen	165	100.00
	DFL	Jeff Hayden[41]	3,711	72.85
		Mohamoud Hassan[42]	1,383	27.15
64	Republican	Ian Baird[43]	461	64.48
		Sharon Anderson[43]	254	35.52
	DFL	Dick Cohen	8,213	100.00

Source: Minnesota Secretary of State^[44]

Opinion polling

Polling firm	Polling period	Sample size	Margin of error	DFL	Republican	Undecided
Public Policy Polling[45]	July 30 – August 2, 2015	1,015 RV	±3.1 pp	46%	40%	15%

Results

Districts won

Summary of the November 8, 2016, Minnesota Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes			Seats
			No.	%	∆pp	No.	∆No.	%
	Republican Party of Minnesota	65	1,377,128	48.96	5.47	34	6	50.75
	Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party	67	1,409,775	50.12	5.71	33	6	49.25
	Legal Marijuana Now Party	1	8,861	0.32	0.32	0		0.00
	Libertarian Party of Minnesota	3	7,899	0.28	0.28	0		0.00
	Independence Party of Minnesota	1	3,197	0.11	0.11	0		0.00
	Write-in	N/A	5,964	0.21	0.05	0		0.00
Total			2,812,824	100.00	±0.00	67	±0	100.00
Invalid/blank votes			155,457	5.24	1.77
Turnout (out of 3,972,330 eligible voters)[46]			2,968,281	74.72	1.70
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State,[47] Minnesota Legislative Reference Library[48]

District results

District	Incumbent			Candidates
	Name	Party	First elected	Name	Party	Votes	%	Winner Party
1	LeRoy Stumpf‡	DFL	1982	Mark Johnson[49]	Republican	23,108	61.41	Republican
				Kip Fontaine[49]	DFL	14,501	38.54
2	Rod Skoe	DFL	2002	Paul Utke[50]	Republican	22,232	56.60	Republican
				Rod Skoe[51]	DFL	17,002	43.29
3	Tom Bakk	DFL	2002	Tom Bakk[52]	DFL	26,977	61.36	DFL
				Jennifer Havlick[53]	Republican	16,923	38.49
4	Kent Eken	DFL	2012	Kent Eken[54]	DFL	21,420	55.13	DFL
				James Leiman[55]	Republican	17,382	44.74
5	Tom Saxhaug	DFL	2002	Justin Eichorn[56]	Republican	20,240	50.59	Republican
				Tom Saxhaug[57]	DFL	19,687	49.21
6	David Tomassoni	DFL	2000	David Tomassoni[58]	DFL	26,260	62.69	DFL
				Skeeter Tomczak[58]	Republican	15,555	37.13
7	Roger Reinert‡	DFL	2010	Erik Simonson[59]	DFL	27,677	65.50	DFL
				Donna Bergstrom[60]	Republican	14,470	34.25
8	Bill Ingebrigtsen	Republican	2006	Bill Ingebrigtsen[61]	Republican	29,302	66.26	Republican
				Shawn Olson[62]	DFL	14,892	33.67
9	Paul Gazelka	Republican	2010	Paul Gazelka[63]	Republican	27,749	71.19	Republican
				Jason Weinerman[64]	DFL	11,191	28.71
10	Carrie Ruud	Republican	2002, 2012†	Carrie Ruud[65]	Republican	27,923	64.31	Republican
				Tiffany Stenglein[66]	DFL	15,440	35.56
11	Tony Lourey	DFL	2006	Tony Lourey[67]	DFL	20,519	54.50	DFL
				Michael Cummins[67]	Republican	17,079	45.36
12	Torrey Westrom	Republican	2012	Torrey Westrom[68]	Republican	28,254	67.60	Republican
				Russ Hinrichs[69]	DFL	13,515	32.34
13	Michelle Fischbach	Republican	1996*	Michelle Fischbach[70]	Republican	29,235	68.60	Republican
				Michael Willemsen[71]	DFL	13,338	31.30
14	John Pederson‡	Republican	2010	Jerry Relph[72]	Republican	17,519	47.40	Republican
				Dan Wolgamott[73]	DFL	17,378	47.02
				Steven Zilberg[73]	Libertarian	2,021	5.47
15	Dave Brown‡	Republican	2010	Andrew Mathews[74]	Republican	28,373	70.70	Republican
				Chilah Brown[74]	DFL	11,672	29.08
16	Gary Dahms	Republican	2010	Gary Dahms[75]	Republican	26,086	67.29	Republican
				James Kanne[76]	DFL	12,651	32.63
17	Lyle Koenen	DFL	2012*	Andrew Lang[77]	Republican	22,421	57.25	Republican
				Lyle Koenen[78]	DFL	16,713	42.67
18	Scott Newman	Republican	2010	Scott Newman[79]	Republican	26,341	66.64	Republican
				Amy Wilde[80]	DFL	13,148	33.26
19	Kathy Sheran‡	DFL	2006	Nick Frentz[81]	DFL	22,875	56.11	DFL
				Willa Dailey[82]	Republican	15,057	36.93
				Shane Wernsing[83]	Libertarian	2,798	6.86
20	Kevin Dahle	DFL	2008*, 2012†	Rich Draheim[84]	Republican	22,274	51.91	Republican
				Kevin Dahle[85]	DFL	20,577	47.95
21	Matt Schmit	DFL	2012	Mike Goggin[86]	Republican	22,901	54.24	Republican
				Matt Schmit[87]	DFL	19,282	45.67
22	Bill Weber	Republican	2012	Bill Weber[88]	Republican	25,769	70.20	Republican
				Brian Abrahamson[89]	DFL	10,910	29.72
23	Julie Rosen	Republican	2002	Julie Rosen[90]	Republican	28,063	70.81	Republican
				Barbara Lake[91]	DFL	11,529	29.09
24	Vicki Jensen	DFL	2012	John Jasinski[92]	Republican	21,885	58.52	Republican
				Vicki Jensen[91]	DFL	15,463	41.35
25	Dave Senjem	Republican	2002	Dave Senjem[93]	Republican	26,839	63.24	Republican
				Dale Amorosia[94]	DFL	15,555	36.65
26	Carla Nelson	Republican	2010	Carla Nelson[95]	Republican	23,325	55.96	Republican
				Rich Wright[95]	DFL	18,317	43.95
27	Dan Sparks	DFL	2002	Dan Sparks[96]	DFL	20,540	54.76	DFL
				Gene Dornink[97]	Republican	16,944	45.17
28	Jeremy Miller	Republican	2010	Jeremy Miller[87]	Republican	25,217	62.97	Republican
				Jon Pieper[98]	DFL	14,793	36.94
29	Bruce Anderson	Republican	2012	Bruce Anderson[99]	Republican	27,249	66.00	Republican
				Janice Holter Kittok[70]	DFL	13,992	33.89
30	Mary Kiffmeyer	Republican	2012	Mary Kiffmeyer[100]	Republican	30,483	71.71	Republican
				P.J. LaCroix[101]	DFL	11,979	28.18
31	Michelle Benson	Republican	2010	Michelle Benson[102]	Republican	29,650	67.96	Republican
				Ricky Englund[102]	DFL	13,919	31.91
32	Sean Nienow§	Republican	2002, 2010†	Mark Koran[103]	Republican	23,992	56.53	Republican
				Tim Nelson[104]	DFL	18,388	43.33
33	David Osmek	Republican	2012	David Osmek[105]	Republican	30,175	59.59	Republican
				Sherrie Pugh[106]	DFL	17,335	34.24
				Jay Nygard[105]	Libertarian	3,080	6.08
34	Warren Limmer	Republican	1995*	Warren Limmer[43]	Republican	29,229	60.18	Republican
				Bonnie Westlin[107]	DFL	19,263	39.66
35	Jim Abeler	Republican	2016*	Jim Abeler[108]	Republican	29,655	67.47	Republican
				Roger Johnson[109]	DFL	14,216	32.35
36	John Hoffman	DFL	2012	John Hoffman[110]	DFL	21,793	51.00	DFL
				Jeff Lunde[111]	Republican	20,840	48.77
37	Alice Johnson‡	DFL	2012	Jerry Newton[112]	DFL	22,129	51.41	DFL
				Brad Sanford[113]	Republican	20,838	48.41
38	Roger Chamberlain	Republican	2010	Roger Chamberlain[114]	Republican	27,109	58.61	Republican
				Pat Davern[115]	DFL	19,094	41.28
39	Karin Housley	Republican	2012	Karin Housley[116]	Republican	28,960	61.29	Republican
				Sten Hakanson[117]	DFL	18,237	38.60
40	Chris Eaton	DFL	2011*	Chris Eaton[118]	DFL	21,152	67.84	DFL
				Robert Marvin[118]	Republican	9,905	31.77
41	Barb Goodwin‡	DFL	2010	Carolyn Laine[2]	DFL	25,096	61.04	DFL
				Gary Johnson[114]	Republican	15,939	38.77
42	Bev Scalze‡	DFL	2012	Jason Isaacson[119]	DFL	24,962	54.21	DFL
				Candy Sina[120]	Republican	21,008	45.62
43	Chuck Wiger	DFL	1996	Chuck Wiger[121]	DFL	24,347	56.95	DFL
				Bob Zick[122]	Republican	15,149	35.43
				Chris Belflower[121]	Independence	3,197	7.48
44	Terri Bonoff‡	DFL	2005*	Paul Anderson[123]	Republican	25,309	50.13	Republican
				Deb Calvert[124]	DFL	25,114	49.74
45	Ann Rest	DFL	2000	Ann Rest[125]	DFL	27,509	63.66	DFL
				Roxana Bruins[125]	Republican	15,588	36.07
46	Ron Latz	DFL	2006	Ron Latz[126]	DFL	35,465	96.58	DFL
47	Julianne Ortman‡	Republican	2002	Scott Jensen[127]	Republican	30,920	67.29	Republican
				Darryl Scarborough[128]	DFL	14,981	32.60
48	David Hann	Republican	2002	Steve Cwodzinski[129]	DFL	24,303	51.10	DFL
				David Hann[129]	Republican	23,205	48.79
49	Melisa Franzen	DFL	2012	Melisa Franzen[130]	DFL	28,273	54.47	DFL
				Mike Lehmann[130]	Republican	23,557	45.39
50	Melissa Halvorson Wiklund	DFL	2012	Melissa Halvorson Wiklund[131]	DFL	24,921	59.53	DFL
				Kirsten Johnson[131]	Republican	16,805	40.14
51	Jim Carlson	DFL	2006, 2012†	Jim Carlson[132]	DFL	24,358	54.04	DFL
				Victor Lake[133]	Republican	20,662	45.84
52	Jim Metzen[nb 1]	DFL	1986	Matt Klein[134]	DFL	25,448	57.84	DFL
				Mark Misukanis[135]	Republican	18,485	42.01
53	Susan Kent	DFL	2012	Susan Kent[136]	DFL	23,035	50.38	DFL
				Sharna Wahlgren[137]	Republican	22,636	49.51
54	Katie Sieben‡	DFL	2006	Dan Schoen[138]	DFL	22,162	53.13	DFL
				Leilani Holmstadt[139]	Republican	19,480	46.70
55	Eric Pratt	Republican	2012	Eric Pratt[140]	Republican	29,132	68.53	Republican
				Ali Ali[141]	DFL	13,282	31.24
56	Dan Hall	Republican	2010	Dan Hall[142]	Republican	23,602	55.07	Republican
				Phil Sterner[143]	DFL	19,178	44.75
57	Greg Clausen	DFL	2012	Greg Clausen[144]	DFL	24,519	53.06	DFL
				Cory Campbell[145]	Republican	21,633	46.81
58	Dave Thompson‡	Republican	2010	Matt Little[146]	DFL	22,833	50.38	DFL
				Tim Pitcher[147]	Republican	22,446	49.53
59	Bobby Joe Champion	DFL	2012	Bobby Joe Champion[148]	DFL	27,541	77.56	DFL
				Jennifer Carnahan[149]	Republican	7,814	22.01
60	Kari Dziedzic	DFL	2012*	Kari Dziedzic[150]	DFL	31,542	77.53	DFL
				Martin Super[43]	Legal Marijuana Now	8,861	21.78
61	Scott Dibble	DFL	2002	Scott Dibble[43]	DFL	43,045	81.07	DFL
				Bob Carney[43]	Republican	9,924	18.69
62	Jeff Hayden	DFL	2011*	Jeff Hayden[148]	DFL	29,564	87.84	DFL
				Bruce Lundeen[43]	Republican	3,897	11.58
63	Patricia Torres Ray	DFL	2006	Patricia Torres Ray[151]	DFL	38,470	80.70	DFL
				Ron Moey[151]	Republican	9,068	19.02
64	Dick Cohen	DFL	1986	Dick Cohen[43]	DFL	36,757	76.67	DFL
				Ian Baird[43]	Republican	11,078	23.11
65	Sandy Pappas	DFL	1990	Sandy Pappas[43]	DFL	27,743	80.70	DFL
				Jason Delmont[43]	Republican	6,479	18.85
66	John Marty	DFL	1986	John Marty[152]	DFL	28,312	74.34	DFL
				Carolyn Jass[152]	Republican	9,670	25.39
67	Foung Hawj	DFL	2012	Foung Hawj[153]	DFL	21,696	75.11	DFL
				Krysia Weidell[154]	Republican	7,091	24.55

*Elected in a special election.^[20]

†Elected to non-consecutive terms.^[21]

‡Retired; did not seek re-election.

§Lost primary election for party's nomination.

District	Candidates	Party
1	Jual Carlson[155]	Republican
	Sue Grafstrom[155]	Republican
	Alan Jensen[155]	Republican
	Roger Schmitz[155]	Republican
	Gary Willhite[155]	Republican
7	Sharla Gardner[156]	DFL
14	Jeff Johnson[157]	Republican
15	Brad Schumaker[158]	Republican
19	Mark Friedman[159]	DFL
20	Mark Bartusek[160]	Republican
	Bruce Morlan[160]	Republican
	Danny Petricka[160]	Republican
24	Janet Moline[161]	Republican
26	Elliot Culp[162]	DFL
41	Connie Bernardy[163]	DFL
44	Cole Mathisen[164]	Republican
	Kelli Slavik[165]	Republican
	Sharon Sund[166]	DFL
47	Jake Coleman[167]	Republican
48	Joan Howe-Pullis[168]	DFL
52	Maureen Ramirez[169]	DFL
54	Lynn Kaye[139]	Republican
58	Mike Freundschuh[170]	Republican
	Mark Priore[170]	Republican
	Melissa Sauser[170]	Republican
60	Chris Meyer[150]	DFL

Withdrawn candidates

The following sought election but later withdrew.

Seats changing parties

Party	Incumbent	District	First elected	Winner	Party
DFL	LeRoy Stumpf‡	1	1982	Mark Johnson	Republican
	Rod Skoe	2	2002	Paul Utke	Republican
	Tom Saxhaug	5	2002	Justin Eichorn	Republican
	Lyle Koenen	17	2012*	Andrew Lang	Republican
	Kevin Dahle	20	2008*, 2012†	Rich Draheim	Republican
	Matt Schmit	21	2012	Mike Goggin	Republican
	Vicki Jensen	24	2012	John Jasinski	Republican
	Terri Bonoff‡	44	2005*	Paul Anderson	Republican
Republican	David Hann	48	2002	Steve Cwodzinski	DFL
	Dave Thompson‡	58	2010	Matt Little	DFL

*Elected in a special election.^[20]

†Elected to non-consecutive terms.^[21]

‡Retired; did not seek re-election.

See also

• Minnesota House of Representatives election, 2016
• Minnesota elections, 2016
• Minnesota gubernatorial election, 2014

Notes

1. Died of lung cancer on July 11, 2016.^[5]