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The 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the attorney general of the U.S. state of Minnesota. A primary election was held on August 14, 2018, in which Doug Wardlow was nominated as the Republican candidate and Keith Ellison was nominated as the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) candidate. Ellison won the election.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.
Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord.
Douglas G. Wardlow is an American attorney and a former Minnesota state representative from District 38B. Wardlow was the unsuccessful Republican candidate in the 2018 Minnesota Attorney General election.
DFL incumbent Lori Swanson was first elected attorney general in 2006. Swanson succeeded two-term DFL incumbent Mike Hatch, who opted to run for governor in 2006. Swanson was re-elected in 2010 and 2014. On January 28, 2018, Swanson announced that she would seek re-election. The announcement came after months of speculation that she would run for governor in 2018. [1] On June 4, 2018, after failing to receive her own party's endorsement for attorney general, Swanson ended her campaign for attorney general and opted to run for governor instead. [2]
Michael Alan Hatch is an American politician and lawyer. He was the attorney general of Minnesota from 1999 to 2007, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce from 1983 to 1989, and chair of the Minnesota DFL Party from 1980 to 1983.
A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for an elected office but seldom wins. The term is not generally extended to incumbent politicians who successfully defend their seats repeatedly.
The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are held in the west wing of the State Capitol in Saint Paul. Committee hearings, as well as offices for senators and staff, are located north of the State Capitol in the Minnesota Senate Building.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an American conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of advocating, training, and funding on the issues of "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family." ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and runs the Center for Academic Freedom. It also has four branch offices located in Folsom, California, Washington, D.C., Lawrenceville, Georgia and New York.
Wardlow was endorsed by the Republicans on June 2, 2018, at their state convention. [9]
Ramsey is a suburb 22 miles (35km) NNW of downtown Minneapolis in Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 23,668 at the 2010 census. It is a northwest suburb of the Twin Cities.
It was reported in late January 2018 that Ellison was exploring the possibility of seeking election to be attorney general. According to several people he had spoken with recently, Ellison was not likely to run but found it enticing. [24] Following Swanson's withdrawal from the election on June 4, 2018, it was reported that Ellison was likely to enter the race, which he did the next day. [25]
On June 2, 2018, the DFL endorsed Pelikan at their state convention. Swanson received 52 percent over Pelikan after the first round of balloting, but not the required 60 percent. Swanson then withdrew her nomination for the party's endorsement, but did not indicate if she would run in the primary election. [9]
On June 4, 2018, Swanson announced she would no longer seek re-election and would instead run for Governor. [2] The day after her announcement, Ellison, Foley, Hatch, Hilstrom, and Rothman entered the race. [12] Hatch said he did not think Pelikan had sufficient courtroom experience and would withdraw if someone he thought was qualified entered the race, which he did the next day. [26]
On October 15, 2018, Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party candidate Noah Johnson announced his endorsement of DFL nominee Keith Ellison. In explaining his endorsement, Johnson cited Ellison's recent statement of support for marijuana legalization. Johnson also stated that he wished to avoid drawing votes away from Ellison and thereby increasing Republican nominee Doug Wardlow's chances of victory. Johnson's name remained on the ballot. [34]
Keith Ellison (DFL) [35] |
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Doug Wardlow (R) |
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
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Republican Party of Minnesota | Doug Wardlow | 135,971 | 46.26 | |
Sharon Anderson | 94,245 | 32.06 | ||
Bob Lessard | 63,722 | 21.68 | ||
Subtotal | 293,938 | 100.00 | ||
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | Keith Ellison | 281,142 | 49.81 | |
Debra Hilstrom | 108,048 | 19.14 | ||
Tom Foley | 70,786 | 12.54 | ||
Matt Pelikan | 59,876 | 10.61 | ||
Mike Rothman | 44,522 | 7.89 | ||
Subtotal | 564,374 | 100.00 | ||
Total | 858,312 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State [47] |
On October 27, 2018, Politico reported that the State of Minnesota had not elected a Republican attorney general in more than 40 years, but added that Ellison was "putting that streak to the test." According to Politico, Ellison had been "rocked by accusations of domestic abuse" and had fallen behind Wardlow in a recent poll; Politico added that the race "revolves around Ellison and what voters make of the misconduct allegations he’s facing." [48]
Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Keith Ellison (DFL) | Doug Wardlow (R) | Other | Undecided |
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SurveyUSA | October 29–31, 2018 | 1,000 | ±5.3% | 44% | 40% | 4% | 12% |
Mason-Dixon | October 15–17, 2018 | 800 | ±3.5% | 36% | 43% | 5% | 16% |
Mason-Dixon | September 10–12, 2018 | 800 | ±3.5% | 41% | 36% | 5% | 18% |
SurveyUSA | September 6–8, 2018 | 574 | ±4.9% | 41% | 41% | 4% | 14% |
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
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Keith Ellison | Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | 1,248,190 | 48.96 | |
Doug Wardlow | Republican Party of Minnesota | 1,149,265 | 45.08 | |
Noah Johnson | Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party | 145,573 | 5.71 | |
N/A | Write-ins | 6,205 | 0.24 | |
Total | 2,549,233 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State [49] |
The 2006 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Tim Pawlenty was endorsed by the state Republican convention on June 2, 2006, while the state Democratic–Farmer–Labor convention endorsed Mike Hatch on June 10, 2006. The party primaries took place on September 12, 2006, with Hatch defeating DFL challengers Becky Lourey and Ole Savior and incumbent Pawlenty defeating Sue Jeffers. In the November 7 general election Pawlenty received a plurality of the votes, defeating Hatch by a margin of one percent. As of 2019, it is the most recent time a Republican was elected governor of Minnesota, or won any statewide race.
Minnesota's 5th congressional district is a geographically small urban and suburban congressional district in Minnesota. It covers eastern Hennepin County, including the entire city of Minneapolis, along with parts of Anoka and Ramsey counties. Besides Minneapolis, major cities in the district include St. Louis Park, Richfield, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley, New Hope, and Fridley.
Matthew "Matt" Keating Entenza is a Minnesota lawyer and former politician who served six terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He served as House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2006. After leaving the legislature, he was an unsuccessful candidate for various statewide offices, including governor, attorney general, and most recently state auditor.
Keith Maurice Ellison is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 30th Attorney General of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2019. He also served as the Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2018. In Congress Ellison was a vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Chief Deputy Whip. He also sat on the House Committee on Financial Services. Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to Congress and the first African American representative from Minnesota.
Minnesota's 5th congressional district election, 2006 was an election for the United States House of Representatives for the open seat of incumbent Martin Olav Sabo (DFL), who retired after serving the Minneapolis-based district for 28 years.
Lori Swanson is an American lawyer who served as the Attorney General of Minnesota from 2007 to 2019. She was the first female Attorney General elected in Minnesota. In 2018, she ran for Governor of Minnesota with running mate U.S. Representative Rick Nolan finishing in third place in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary.
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Michael Edward Obermueller is Minnesota lawyer and politician, a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He represented District 38B in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan area from 2009 to 2011. In 2012 and 2014 Obermueller was the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate for United States Congress in the second congressional district, challenging incumbent John Kline.
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The 2014 Minnesota Attorney General election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the Minnesota Attorney General.
The 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, to elect the 41st Governor of Minnesota as incumbent governor Mark Dayton chose not to run for re-election for a third term. The Democratic nominee was congressman Tim Walz from Minnesota's 1st congressional district while the Republicans nominated Hennepin County commissioner Jeff Johnson. The Independence Party of Minnesota didn't field a candidate for the first time since 1994. Going into the election the polls showed Walz ahead and the race was characterized as lean or likely DFL.
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, a United States Senate seat, Minnesota's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, and several seats for local offices. Special elections were also be 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 Minnesota State Auditor election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the state auditor of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Julie Blaha, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) nominee, won the election.
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