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  Klobuchar: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Kennedy: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No votes | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Minnesota |
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The 2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Senator Mark Dayton announced in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. Fellow Democrat Amy Klobuchar won the open seat by 20.2 percentage points. Primary elections took place on September 12, 2006.
Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. A poll taken of DFL state delegates showed Klobuchar beating her then closest opponent, Patty Wetterling, 66% to 15%. As of June 30, 2005, Klobuchar had more cash on hand than any other candidate, nearly $1,100,000.
Klobuchar was endorsed by EMILY's List on September 29, 2005. On January 20, 2006, Wetterling dropped out of the race and endorsed Klobuchar. [1]
Former Senate candidate and prominent lawyer Mike Ciresi, who was widely seen as the only other serious potential DFL candidate, indicated on February 7, 2006 that he would not enter the race. That removal of her most significant potential competitor for the DFL nomination was viewed as an important boost for Klobuchar. [2]
The only other serious candidate for the DFL endorsement was veterinarian Ford Bell. Bell, a staunch liberal, ran on a platform of implementing single-payer healthcare and immediate withdrawal from Iraq. [3] Klobuchar won the official DFL endorsement on June 9, 2006. [4] Bell dropped out of the race on July 10, citing inability to compete financially, and also endorsed Klobuchar. [3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Amy Klobuchar | 294,671 | 92.51 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Darryl Stanton | 23,872 | 7.49 | |
| Total votes | 318,543 | 100.00 | ||
Kennedy had faced potential challenges from former U.S. Senator Rod Grams, as well as U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht, but both men were persuaded by national GOP leaders to run for the House instead. (Grams lost to Representative Jim Oberstar, while Gutknecht lost his reelection bid to Tim Walz.)
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Kennedy | 147,091 | 90.21 | |
| Republican | John Uldrich | 10,025 | 6.15 | |
| Republican | Harold Shudlick | 5,941 | 3.64 | |
| Total votes | 163,057 | 100.00 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independence | Robert Fitzgerald | 5,520 | 51.61 | |
| Independence | Miles W. Collins | 2,600 | 24.31 | |
| Independence | Stephen Williams | 2,575 | 24.08 | |
| Total votes | 10,695 | 100.00 | ||
Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes appeared to be a central issue for Democrats in the campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official U.S. House website. In rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process. [7] Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Kennedy and Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the campaign as a special guest.
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report [8] | Likely D | November 6, 2006 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball [9] | Likely D | November 6, 2006 |
| Rothenberg Political Report [10] | Safe D | November 6, 2006 |
| Real Clear Politics [11] | Lean D | November 6, 2006 |
After the release of the Star Tribune poll [12] on September 17, 2006, showing Klobuchar ahead by 24%, Kennedy's campaign issued a statement [13] from Joe Pally, the campaign's communications director. He claimed that the margin was exaggerated because of bias by the Star Tribune and that the poll was "clearly more about discouraging Kennedy supporters than on reflecting the true status of one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country." [14] This press release came in the wake of news that the Republican party was scaling back funding for Kennedy's election campaign to shore up campaigns in states seen as winnable. Kennedy's campaign frequently accused the Star Tribune of bias in favor of Klobuchar, whose father was an editorial columnist and sportswriter for the paper until his retirement. A subsequent poll by Rasmussen Reports showed a similar lead for Klobuchar, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press also showed Klobuchar with a 15% lead in September. Klobuchar won the November 7 election by more than 20 percentage points.
| Source | Date | Klobuchar (DFL) | Kennedy (R) | Fitzgerald (IPM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen Archived January 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine | December 23, 2005 | 48% | 41% | |
| Rasmussen | January 28, 2006 | 43% | 42% | |
| Rasmussen | February 28, 2006 | 45% | 42% | |
| Zogby/WSJ | March 31, 2006 | 49% | 41% | |
| Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Poll | May 9, 2006 | 50% | 42% | |
| Rasmussen | May 10, 2006 | 45% | 43% | |
| Zogby/WSJ | June 21, 2006 | 49% | 41% | |
| Rasmussen | June 30, 2006 | 47% | 44% | |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll [ permanent dead link ] | July 16, 2006 | 50% | 31% | |
| Zogby/WSJ | July 24, 2006 | 49% | 43% | |
| Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal (D) | July 24, 2006 | 48% | 30% | |
| SurveyUSA | July 24, 2006 | 47% | 42% | 8% |
| Rasmussen Archived August 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine | August 7, 2006 | 50% | 38% | 5% |
| Zogby/WSJ | August 28, 2006 | 50% | 42% | |
| Rasmussen | August 28, 2006 | 47% | 40% | 8% |
| Gallup | September 5, 2006 | 50% | 40% | |
| Zogby/WSJ | September 11, 2006 | 49% | 40% | |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll | September 17, 2006 | 56% | 32% | 3% |
| University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute | September 21, 2006 | 52% | 36% | 7% |
| Minnesota Public Radio/Pioneer Press/Mason-Dixon | September 25, 2006 | 52% | 37% | 1% |
| SurveyUSA | September 28, 2006 | 51% | 43% | 2% |
| Rasmussen | October 4, 2006 | 53% | 36% | 6% |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll | October 15, 2006 | 55% | 34% | 3% |
| Zogby/WSJ | October 19, 2006 | 50% | 43% | |
| SurveyUSA | October 24, 2006 | 55% | 39% | 3% |
| Rasmussen | October 25, 2006 | 54% | 39% | |
| University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute | November 1, 2006 | 55% | 33% | 3% |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll [ permanent dead link ] | November 4, 2006 | 54% | 34% | 4% |
| SurveyUSA | November 6, 2006 | 56% | 40% | 2% |
The race was, as expected, not close, with Klobuchar winning decisively. She did well in major cities, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, while Kennedy did well only in smaller, less populated counties. The turnout was high, although not unusual for Minnesota, one of the highest voter turnout states. Official turnout came in at 70.64%.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Amy Klobuchar | 1,278,849 | 58.06% | +9.23% | |
| Republican | Mark Kennedy | 835,653 | 37.94% | -5.35% | |
| Independence | Robert Fitzgerald | 71,194 | 3.23% | -2.58% | |
| Green | Michael Cavlan | 10,714 | 0.49% | n/a | |
| Constitution | Ben Powers | 5,408 | 0.25% | +0.15% | |
| Write-ins | 954 | ||||
| Majority | 443,196 | 20.2% | |||
| Turnout | 2,202,772 | 70.64% | |||
| Democratic (DFL) hold | Swing | ||||
Mark Raymond Kennedy is an American businessman, politician, and university administrator. Following a career as a business executive, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota from 2001 to 2007. Kennedy did not seek reelection in 2006, instead running in the 2006 election for U.S. Senate. He lost to Democratic–Farmer–Labor nominee Amy Klobuchar.
Patricia Lynn Wetterling is an American advocate of children's safety and chair of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Her advocacy particularly focuses on protecting children from abduction and abuse. In recent years Wetterling has become one of the most vocal critics of current sex offender registry laws, painting them as overly broad and unnecessarily causing tremendous harm to many. Her advocacy began after her son Jacob was abducted in 1989 and culminated in passage of the federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act. She was a candidate for the Minnesota Sixth District seat in the United States House of Representatives as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate in 2004 and 2006, losing to Republicans Mark Kennedy and Michele Bachmann respectively. In September 2016, the remains of her son Jacob were discovered and positively identified.
Amy Jean Klobuchar is an American politician and lawyer serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minnesota's affiliate of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the county attorney of Hennepin County, Minnesota.
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The 2006 Minnesota's 6th congressional district election was an election for the United States House of Representatives. State senator Michele Bachmann of the Republican Party defeated child safety advocate Patty Wetterling of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and project co-ordinator John Binkowski of the Independence Party.
Michael Cavlan is a Minnesota political activist and registered nurse living in Minneapolis.
Elwyn "El" Tinklenberg has been an American government official and candidate for public office. He was Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, a city council member and mayor, and a two-time candidate for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination for U.S. Congress from Minnesota's 6th District.
The 2010 Minnesota gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 to elect the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota for a four-year term to begin in January 2011. The general election was contested by the major party candidates State Representative Tom Emmer (R–Delano), former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton (DFL), and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner. After a very close race, Dayton was elected governor. Emmer would be elected to the United States House of Representatives four years later.
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The 2006 congressional elections in Minnesota were held on November 7, 2006 to determine who would represent the state of Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives.
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The 2018 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a United States Senator from Minnesota. Incumbent Democratic–Farmer–Labor U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar was reelected in a landslide, defeating Republican state House of Representatives member Jim Newberger. This election was held alongside a special election for Minnesota's other Senate seat, which was held by Al Franken until he resigned in January 2018. U.S. House elections, a gubernatorial election, State House elections, and other elections were also held.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Minnesota, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the U.S. Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and other state and local elections. Some Republican pundits and strategists believed Minnesota to be a potential pickup opportunity due to its increasingly favorable demographics and unexpectedly close result in the 2016 presidential election, along with potential backlash from the 2020 George Floyd protests, originating after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. However, every poll showed incumbent Democratic Senator Tina Smith in the lead by varying degrees.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Minnesota, one from each of the state's eight congressional districts. The elections coincided with an open gubernatorial election, a U.S. Senate election, a special U.S. Senate election, State House elections, and other elections.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 6, 2018. All of Minnesota's executive officers were up for election as well as all the seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, several judicial seats, two United States Senate seats, Minnesota's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, and several seats for local offices. Special elections were also held for a Minnesota Senate seat and Minnesota's Class 2 U.S. Senate seat. A primary election to nominate Republican and Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) candidates and several judicial and local primary elections were held on August 14, 2018.
The 2018 United States Senate special election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a United States senator from Minnesota to replace incumbent Democratic senator Al Franken until the regular expiration of the term on January 3, 2021. Facing multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, Franken announced on December 7, 2017, that he would resign effective January 2, 2018. Governor Mark Dayton appointed Franken's successor, Tina Smith, on December 13, 2017, and she ran in the special election. This election coincided with a regularly scheduled U.S. Senate election for the Class 1 Senate seat, U.S. House elections, a gubernatorial election, State House elections, and other elections.
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The 2022 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Minnesota. Incumbent Democratic (DFL) Governor Tim Walz defeated the Republican nominee, former state senator Scott Jensen, winning a second term.
A mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the mayor of the U.S. city of Minneapolis. Incumbent DFL mayor Jacob Frey won reelection to a second term, becoming the first Minneapolis mayor to win a second term since R. T. Rybak in 2005. Minneapolis mayoral elections use instant-runoff voting, also known as ranked-choice voting. All candidates appear on the same ballot and there is no primary election, nor is there a runoff. Minneapolis's twin city, Saint Paul, also held a mayoral election on the same day, using the same system.
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