2020 Minnesota Senate election

Not to be confused with 2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota.

The 2020 Minnesota Senate election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 3, 2020, to elect members to the Senate of the 92nd Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held in several districts on August 11, 2020. The election coincided with the election of the other house of the Legislature, the House of Representatives, and other elections.

2020 Minnesota State Senate election

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2022 →
All 67 seats in the Minnesota Senate 34 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.98% 5.26 pp
Majority party Minority party   Leader Paul Gazelka Susan Kent Party Republican Democratic (DFL) Leader since November 10, 2016 February 1, 2020 Leader's seat 9th–Nisswa 53rd–Woodbury Last election 34 seats, 48.96% 33 seats, 50.12% Seats before 35 32 Seats won 34 33 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,532,446 1,577,523 Percentage 48.39% 49.82% Swing 0.57 pp 0.30 pp
Majority Leader before election Paul Gazelka Republican Elected Majority Leader Paul Gazelka Republican

Background

The last election in 2016 resulted in the Republican Party of Minnesota winning a majority of seats, after losing a majority to the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) only four years earlier in the previous election in 2012. In conjunction with the result of the House election, it also resulted in the return of all-Republican control of the Legislature for the first time since 2012, and only the second time Republicans had had majorities in both houses since the return of partisan elections to the Senate in 1976. Control of the Senate had alternated between the Republicans and the DFL every election since 2010. All-Republican control of the Legislature ended when the DFL won a majority in the House in 2018.

A special election was held for District 11 on February 5, 2019, as a result of the resignation of incumbent DFL Senator Tony Lourey after he was selected to be the next commissioner of human services by Governor-elect Tim Walz in early January 2019.^[1] Republican state representative Jason Rarick won the special election, increasing the Republican majority to 35 seats.^[2]

In October 2020, The Washington Post identified this state election as one of eight whose outcomes could affect partisan balance during post-census redistricting.^[3]

Electoral system

The 67 members of the Senate were elected from single-member districts via first-past-the-post voting for two-year terms. Contested nominations of recognized major parties (DFL, Grassroots–Legalize Cannabis, Legal Marijuana Now, and Republican) for each district were determined by an open primary election. Minor party 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 be counted. The filing period was from May 19 to June 2, 2020.^[4]

Retiring members

Retiring incumbents (light red and light blue) by district

Republican

• Paul Anderson, 44th^[5]
• Scott Jensen, 47th^[6]

DFL

• Carolyn Laine, 41st^[7]
• Dick Cohen, 64th^[8]

Primary elections results

A primary election was held on August 11 in 16 districts to nominate Republican and DFL candidates. Four Republican nominations and 13 DFL nominations were contested. Nine incumbents were opposed for their party's nomination. DFL incumbents Erik Simonson in District 7 and Jeff Hayden in District 62 were not renominated.^[9][10]

District	Party	Candidates	Votes	%
6	Republican	John Moren	3,569	100.00
	DFL	David Tomassoni	6,519	86.41
		Christopher Horoshak	1,025	13.59
7	Republican	Donna Bergstrom	2,129	100.00
	DFL	Jen McEwen	8,603	73.54
		Erik Simonson	3,095	26.46
9	Republican	Paul Gazelka	5,822	83.49
		Richard Dahl	1,151	16.51
	DFL	A. John Peters	2,759	100.00
10	Republican	Carrie Ruud	5,558	82.50
		Shaun Christian Hansen	1,179	17.50
	DFL	Steve Samuelson	4,869	100.00
22	Grassroots	Brian Abrahamson	44	100.00
	Republican	Bill Weber	4,406	100.00
	DFL	Shawna Marshall	1,897	76.06
		Roger Elgersma	597	23.94
34	Republican	Warren Limmer	3,875	100.00
	DFL	Bonnie Westlin	5,810	71.81
		Aarica Coleman	2,281	28.19
39	Republican	Karin Housley	3,213	100.00
	DFL	Josiah Hill	7,188	86.94
		Brian Hile	1,080	13.06
43	Grassroots	Doug Daubenspeck	81	100.00
	Republican	Bob Zick	2,352	100.00
	DFL	Chuck Wiger	6,051	69.67
		Natasha Lapcinski	2,634	30.33
44	Republican	Greg Pulles	3,946	100.00
	DFL	Ann Johnson Stewart	9,672	76.59
		Zina Alston Fizer	2,956	23.41
47	Republican	Julia Coleman	4,586	63.52
		Tom Funk	2,634	36.48
	DFL	Addie Miller	5,105	86.97
		Bala Chintaginjala	765	13.03
49	Republican	Julie Dupré	2,581	62.78
		Jenny Rhoades	1,530	37.22
	DFL	Melisa Franzen	14,895	100.00
53	Republican	Mary Giuliani Stephens	2,889	100.00
	DFL	Susan Kent	6,418	66.63
		Marquita Stephens	3,214	33.37
56	Republican	Dan Hall	3,090	100.00
	DFL	Lindsey Port	4,669	66.70
		Kevin Shea	1,925	27.50
		Richard Tucker	406	5.80
59	Republican	Paul Anderson	841	100.00
	DFL	Bobby Joe Champion	11,639	77.07
		Suleiman Isse	3,463	22.93
62	Republican	Bruce Lundeen	443	100.00
	DFL	Omar Fateh	11,109	54.86
		Jeff Hayden	9,140	45.14
65	Republican	Paul Holmgren	902	100.00
	DFL	Sandy Pappas	7,484	63.67
		Laverne McCartney Knighton	4,270	36.33
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State[11]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[12]	Tossup	October 21, 2020

Results

Districts won

Party		Candidates	Votes			Seats
			No.	%	+/−	No.	+/−	%
	Republican Party of Minnesota	67	1,532,446	48.39	−0.57	34	−1	50.75
	Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party	65	1,577,523	49.82	−0.30	33	+1	49.25
	Legal Marijuana Now Party	7	29,841	0.94	+0.62	0	0	0.00
	Grassroots–Legalize Cannabis Party	6	17,291	0.55	+0.55	0	0	0.00
	Independence–Alliance Party of Minnesota	1	5,654	0.18	+0.07	0	0	0.00
	Write-in	N/A	3,835	0.12	−0.09	0	0	0.00
Total			3,166,590	100.00	±0.00	67	±0	100.00
Invalid/blank votes			127,190	3.86	−1.38
Total			3,293,780	100.00	±0
Registered voters/Turnout[13]			4,118,462	79.98	+5.26
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State,[14] Star Tribune[15]

Close races

Districts where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 14, 0.8% (gain)
2. District 34, 1.56%
3. District 26, 1.76%
4. District 25, 2.53%
5. District 27, 4.5% (gain)
6. District 38, 4.15%
7. District 37, 4.25%
8. District 54, 5.83%
9. District 39, 6.02%
10. District 56, 6.12% (gain)
11. District 33, 8%
12. District 53, 8.26%
13. District 58, 9.08% (gain)
14. District 4, 9.16%
15. District 3, 9.51%

District results

District	Incumbent			Candidates[16]
	Name	Party	First elected	Name	Party	Votes	%	Winner Party
1	Mark Johnson	Republican	2016	Mark Johnson	Republican	27,972	69.63	Republican
				Reed Perkins	DFL	12,162	30.28
2	Paul Utke	Republican	2016	Paul Utke	Republican	28,951	65.11	Republican
				Alan Roy	DFL	15,458	34.76
3	Tom Bakk	DFL	2002	Tom Bakk	DFL	26,700	55.19	DFL
				Christopher Hogan	Republican	21,613	44.68
4	Kent Eken	DFL	2012	Kent Eken	DFL	23,333	54.53	DFL
				Mark Larson	Republican	19,415	45.37
5	Justin Eichorn	Republican	2016	Justin Eichorn	Republican	25,169	55.59	Republican
				Rita Albrecht	DFL	16,706	36.89
				Robyn Smith	LMN	2,400	5.30
				Dennis Barsness	Grassroots	967	2.14
6	David Tomassoni	DFL	2000	David Tomassoni	DFL	25,557	57.04	DFL
				John Moren	Republican	19,191	42.83
7	Erik Simonson[a]	DFL	2016	Jen McEwen	DFL	30,526	68.32	DFL
				Donna Bergstrom	Republican	14,081	31.51
8	Bill Ingebrigtsen	Republican	2006	Bill Ingebrigtsen	Republican	33,625	67.69	Republican
				Michele Anderson	DFL	15,997	32.20
9	Paul Gazelka	Republican	2010	Paul Gazelka	Republican	33,472	75.60	Republican
				A. John Peters	DFL	10,765	24.31
10	Carrie Ruud	Republican	2002[b]	Carrie Ruud	Republican	33,027	67.55	Republican
				Steve Samuelson	DFL	15,828	32.37
11	Jason Rarick	Republican	2019[c]	Jason Rarick	Republican	24,498	56.58	Republican
				Michelle Lee	DFL	18,761	43.33
12	Torrey Westrom	Republican	2012	Torrey Westrom	Republican	33,442	74.42	Republican
				Jill Abahsain	DFL	11,467	25.52
13	Jeff Howe	Republican	2018[c]	Jeff Howe	Republican	32,623	69.43	Republican
				Michael Willemsen	DFL	14,306	30.45
14	Jerry Relph	Republican	2016	Aric Putnam	DFL	18,318	46.39	DFL
				Jerry Relph	Republican	18,002	45.59
				Jaden Partlow	LMN	3,127	7.92
15	Andrew Mathews	Republican	2016	Andrew Mathews	Republican	33,886	72.25	Republican
				Brent Krist	DFL	12,957	27.63
16	Gary Dahms	Republican	2010	Gary Dahms	Republican	29,696	73.64	Republican
				Joshua Prine	IA	5,654	14.02
				Steve Preslicka	LMN	4,880	12.10
17	Andrew Lang	Republican	2016	Andrew Lang	Republican	28,337	67.86	Republican
				Fernando Alvarado	DFL	13,383	32.05
18	Scott Newman	Republican	2010	Scott Newman	Republican	31,357	71.35	Republican
				Chad Tschimperle	DFL	12,538	28.53
19	Nick Frentz	DFL	2016	Nick Frentz	DFL	26,165	59.82	DFL
				Elizabeth Bangert	Republican	17,504	40.02
20	Rich Draheim	Republican	2016	Rich Draheim	Republican	26,523	54.24	Republican
				Jon Olson	DFL	19,431	39.73
				Jason Hoschette	Grassroots	2,901	5.93
21	Mike Goggin	Republican	2016	Mike Goggin	Republican	27,981	59.67	Republican
				Ralph Kaehler	DFL	18,871	40.25
22	Bill Weber	Republican	2012	Bill Weber	Republican	26,697	69.17	Republican
				Shawna Marshall	DFL	9,936	25.74
				Brian Abrahamson	Grassroots	1,947	5.04
23	Julie Rosen	Republican	2002	Julie Rosen	Republican	32,533	78.66	Republican
				David Pulkrabek	LMN	8,730	21.11
24	John Jasinski	Republican	2016	John Jasinski	Republican	25,943	63.66	Republican
				Roger Steinkamp	DFL	14,756	36.21
25	Dave Senjem	Republican	2002	Dave Senjem	Republican	25,021	51.21	Republican
				Sara Flick	DFL	23,783	48.68
26	Carla Nelson	Republican	2010	Carla Nelson	Republican	24,740	50.86	Republican
				Aleta Borrud	DFL	23,831	48.99
27	Dan Sparks	DFL	2002	Gene Dornink	Republican	19,759	48.87	Republican
				Dan Sparks	DFL	17,941	44.37
				Tyler Becvar	LMN	2,699	6.68
28	Jeremy Miller	Republican	2010	Jeremy Miller	Republican	24,811	57.66	Republican
				Sarah Kruger	DFL	18,171	42.23
29	Bruce Anderson	Republican	2012	Bruce Anderson	Republican	30,405	63.23	Republican
				Chris Brazelton	DFL	13,572	28.23
				Mary Murphy	Grassroots	4,066	8.46
30	Mary Kiffmeyer	Republican	2012	Mary Kiffmeyer	Republican	34,714	67.25	Republican
				Diane Nguyen	DFL	16,861	32.66
31	Michelle Benson	Republican	2010	Michelle Benson	Republican	35,980	70.57	Republican
				Kate Luthner	DFL	14,962	29.34
32	Mark Koran	Republican	2016	Mark Koran	Republican	32,493	66.35	Republican
				Joshua Fike	DFL	16,412	33.51
33	David Osmek	Republican	2012	David Osmek	Republican	31,614	53.97	Republican
				Gretchen Piper	DFL	26,928	45.97
34	Warren Limmer	Republican	1995[c]	Warren Limmer	Republican	29,347	50.74	Republican
				Bonnie Westlin	DFL	28,443	49.18
35	Jim Abeler	Republican	2016[c]	Jim Abeler	Republican	31,291	62.63	Republican
				David Nelson	DFL	18,622	37.27
36	John Hoffman	DFL	2012	John Hoffman	DFL	27,580	56.33	DFL
				Karen Attia	Republican	21,319	43.55
37	Jerry Newton	DFL	2016	Jerry Newton	DFL	26,100	52.38	DFL
				Brad Sanford	Republican	23,659	47.48
38	Roger Chamberlain	Republican	2010	Roger Chamberlain	Republican	28,041	52.08	Republican
				Justin Stofferahn	DFL	25,755	47.83
39	Karin Housley	Republican	2012	Karin Housley	Republican	29,246	52.97	Republican
				Josiah Hill	DFL	25,921	46.95
40	Chris Eaton	DFL	2011[c]	Chris Eaton	DFL	24,291	71.46	DFL
				Robert Marvin	Republican	9,647	28.38
41	Carolyn Laine[d]	DFL	2016	Mary Kunesh-Podein	DFL	29,967	66.85	DFL
				Lucia Vogel	Republican	14,791	32.99
42	Jason Isaacson	DFL	2016	Jason Isaacson	DFL	29,645	58.71	DFL
				Ben Schwanke	Republican	20,771	41.14
43	Chuck Wiger	DFL	1996	Chuck Wiger	DFL	26,345	56.20	DFL
				Bob Zick	Republican	16,520	35.24
				Doug Daubenspeck	Grassroots	3,950	8.43
44	Paul Anderson[d]	Republican	2016	Ann Johnson Stewart	DFL	33,855	58.74	DFL
				Greg Pulles	Republican	23,756	41.22
45	Ann Rest	DFL	2000	Ann Rest	DFL	29,054	60.70	DFL
				Roxana Bruins	Republican	14,040	29.33
				Andy Schuler	LMN	4,729	9.88
46	Ron Latz	DFL	2006	Ron Latz	DFL	37,972	72.72	DFL
				Bryan Björnson	Republican	14,189	27.17
47	Scott Jensen[d]	Republican	2016	Julia Coleman	Republican	32,366	57.63	Republican
				Addie Miller	DFL	23,728	42.25
48	Steve Cwodzinski	DFL	2016	Steve Cwodzinski	DFL	29,985	58.15	DFL
				Jeff Jiang	Republican	21,558	41.81
49	Melisa Franzen	DFL	2012	Melisa Franzen	DFL	36,149	62.77	DFL
				Julie Dupré	Republican	21,403	37.16
50	Melissa Wiklund	DFL	2012	Melissa Wiklund	DFL	30,516	66.62	DFL
				Dean Mumbleau	Republican	15,243	33.28
51	Jim Carlson	DFL	2006[e]	Jim Carlson	DFL	30,719	61.23	DFL
				Doug Willetts	Republican	19,389	38.65
52	Matt Klein	DFL	2016	Matt Klein	DFL	29,730	60.58	DFL
				Tomas Settell	Republican	19,291	39.31
53	Susan Kent	DFL	2012	Susan Kent	DFL	29,538	54.08	DFL
				Mary Giuliani Stephens	Republican	25,024	45.82
54	Karla Bigham	DFL	2018[c]	Karla Bigham	DFL	25,530	52.85	DFL
				Leilani Holmstadt	Republican	22,712	47.02
55	Eric Pratt	Republican	2012	Eric Pratt	Republican	31,082	61.61	Republican
				Sahra Odowa	DFL	19,322	38.30
56	Dan Hall	Republican	2010	Lindsey Port	DFL	26,071	53.01	DFL
				Dan Hall	Republican	23,061	46.89
57	Greg Clausen	DFL	2012	Greg Clausen	DFL	30,897	56.41	DFL
				Jose Jimenez	Republican	23,825	43.50
58	Matt Little	DFL	2016	Zach Duckworth	Republican	29,020	55.01	Republican
				Matt Little	DFL	23,701	44.93
59	Bobby Joe Champion	DFL	2012	Bobby Joe Champion	DFL	33,810	82.06	DFL
				Paul Anderson	Republican	7,300	17.72
60	Kari Dziedzic	DFL	2012[c]	Kari Dziedzic	DFL	37,488	85.73	DFL
				Mary Holmberg	Republican	6,171	14.11
61	Scott Dibble	DFL	2002	Scott Dibble	DFL	49,050	84.78	DFL
				Jennifer Zielinski	Republican	8,727	15.08
62	Jeff Hayden[a]	DFL	2011[c]	Omar Fateh	DFL	33,103	88.99	DFL
				Bruce Lundeen	Republican	3,947	10.61
63	Patricia Torres Ray	DFL	2006	Patricia Torres Ray	DFL	40,742	77.64	DFL
				Diane Napper	Republican	8,231	15.69
				Chris Wright	Grassroots	3,460	6.59
64	Dick Cohen[d]	DFL	1986	Erin Murphy	DFL	40,174	78.68	DFL
				Sharon Anderson	Republican	7,471	14.63
				Patti McArdell	LMN	3,276	6.42
65	Sandy Pappas	DFL	1990	Sandy Pappas	DFL	31,463	81.47	DFL
				Paul Holmgren	Republican	7,044	18.24
66	John Marty	DFL	1986	John Marty	DFL	31,867	76.90	DFL
				Greg Copeland	Republican	9,482	22.88
67	Foung Hawj	DFL	2012	Foung Hawj	DFL	24,008	73.86	DFL
				Alexander Deputie	Republican	8,407	25.86

Seats changing parties

Seat gains and holds by party

Party	Incumbent	District	First elected	Winner	Party
Republican	Jerry Relph	14	2016	Aric Putnam	DFL
	Paul Anderson[d]	44	2016	Ann Johnson Stewart	DFL
	Dan Hall	56	2010	Lindsey Port	DFL
DFL	Dan Sparks	27	2002	Gene Dornink	Republican
	Matt Little	58	2016	Zach Duckworth	Republican

Post-election changes

On November 18, 2020, longtime DFL senators Thomas M. Bakk and David Tomassoni announced they would be leaving the DFL party and form their own "Independent Caucus" in the state senate.^[18] Majority Leader Paul Gazelka welcomed the move and promised to give both senators chairmanships on "prominent committees". This changed the senate composition to 34 Republicans, 31 Democrats, and two independents.

See also

• 2020 Minnesota House of Representatives election
• 2020 Minnesota elections
• 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election
• List of Minnesota state legislatures

Notes

1. Lost primary election for party's nomination.
2. Lost re-election in 2006. Elected again in 2012.
3. Elected in a special election.^[17]
4. Retiring; not seeking re-election.
5. Lost re-election 2010. Elected again in 2012.