2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota

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2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota
Flag of Minnesota (1983-2024).svg
  1994 November 7, 2000 2006  
  Mark Dayton official photo.jpg Rod Grams, Official Senate portrait.jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Mark Dayton Rod Grams James Gibson
Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Independence
Popular vote1,181,5531,047,474140,583
Percentage48.83%43.29%5.81%

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota results map by county.svg
2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota results map by precinct.svg
Dayton:     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Grams:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Tie:     40–50%     50%     No votes

U.S. senator before election

Rod Grams
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Mark Dayton
Democratic (DFL)

The 2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 7, 2000, to select a U.S. senator from the state of Minnesota. The race pitted incumbent Republican Senator Rod Grams against former Minnesota State Auditor Mark Dayton. Dayton won with 48.83% of the vote to Grams's 43.29%. Dayton declined to run for reelection in 2006 and ran successfully in 2010 and 2014 for governor of Minnesota. He was succeeded in the Senate by Amy Klobuchar, who has held the seat ever since. Upon Dayton's swearing in, Democrats held both of Minnesota's U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1978. As of 2024, this is the last time that a man won the Class 1 Senate seat in Minnesota.

Contents

DFL primary

Results

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party primary results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic (DFL) Mark Dayton 178,972 41.30
Democratic (DFL) Mike Ciresi96,87422.35
Democratic (DFL) Jerry Janezich90,07420.78
Democratic (DFL) Rebecca Yanisch63,28914.60
Democratic (DFL) Richard Franson1,3360.31
Democratic (DFL) Oloveuse S. Savior1,2060.28
Democratic (DFL) Gregg A. Iverson1,0380.24
Total votes462,789 100.00

Republican primary

Candidate

Results

Republican primary results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Rod Grams (incumbent) 112,335 89.11
Republican William Paul Dahn13,72810.89
Total votes126,063 100.00

General election

Candidates

Debates

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota debates
No.DateHostModeratorLink Republican Democratic Independence Constitution
Key:
 P Participant  A Absent  N Not invited  I Invited  W  Withdrawn
Rod Grams Mark Dayton James GibsonDavid Swan
1Oct. 18, 2000 KARE-TV Paul Majors
Tim Russert
C-SPAN PPPN
2Oct. 26, 2000 WCCO-TV Don Shelby C-SPAN PPPP
3Nov. 3, 2000 KTCA-TV
Minnesota Citizen's Forum
Star Tribune
Twin Cities Public Television
WCCO
Eric Eskola
Cathy Wurzer
C-SPAN PPPN

Results

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic (DFL) Mark Dayton 1,181,553 48.83 +4.73
Republican Rod Grams (incumbent)1,047,47443.29−5.76
Independence James Gibson140,5835.81+0.43
Grassroots David Daniels21,4470.89−0.01
Socialist Workers Rebecca Ellis12,9560.54+0.40
Constitution David Swan8,9150.37n/a
Libertarian Erik D. Pakieser6,5880.27n/a
Write-inOle Savior40.00n/a
Total votes2,419,520 100.00 n/a
Democratic (DFL) gain from Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

References