Minnesota's 6th Congressional District

Minnesota's 6th Congressional District

Incumbent

Tom Emmer

Assumed office: January 3, 2015

Minnesota's 6th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives is represented by Tom Emmer (R).

As of the 2020 Census, Minnesota representatives represented an average of 713,719 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 664,360 residents.

Elections

2024

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2024

Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Republican primary)

Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2024 (August 13 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Jeanne Hendricks in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer (R)	62.4	260,095
		Jeanne Hendricks (D)	37.4	155,836
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	565

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 416,496
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Jeanne Hendricks defeated Austin Winkelman in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 13, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeanne Hendricks	83.8	14,895
		Austin Winkelman	16.2	2,878

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,773
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jay Reeves (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Chris Corey in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 13, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer	87.0	21,624
	Submit photo	Chris Corey	13.0	3,218

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 24,842
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2022

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Jeanne Hendricks and Todd Stenberg in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer (R)	62.0	198,145
		Jeanne Hendricks (D)	37.8	120,852
	Submit photo	Todd Stenberg (Independent) (Write-in)	0.1	334
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	436

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 319,767
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Jeanne Hendricks advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Tom Emmer advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6.

2020

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Tawnja Zahradka in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer (R)	65.7	270,901
		Tawnja Zahradka (D)	34.2	140,853
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	553

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 412,307
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Tawnja Zahradka advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawnja Zahradka	100.0	29,445

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,445
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ian Todd (D)
• Aaron Aanerud (D)
• Nikolay Nikolayevich Bey (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Patrick Munro in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 11, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer	87.2	30,654
		Patrick Munro	12.8	4,518

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 35,172
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated Ian Todd in the general election for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer (R)	61.1	192,931
		Ian Todd (D)	38.7	122,332
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	463

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 315,726 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Ian Todd advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ian Todd	100.0	33,853

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,853
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6

Incumbent Tom Emmer defeated A.J. Kern and Patrick Munro in the Republican primary for U.S. House Minnesota District 6 on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Emmer	76.6	34,250
		A.J. Kern	17.7	7,897
		Patrick Munro	5.8	2,575

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,722
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Tom Emmer (R) defeated David Snyder (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Emmer defeated A.J. Kern and Patrick Munro in the Republican primary, while Snyder defeated Judy Evelyn Adams and Bob Helland to win the Democratic nomination. The primary elections took place on August 9, 2016.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Emmer Incumbent	65.6%	235,380
	Democratic	David Snyder	34.3%	123,008
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	536
Total Votes				358,924
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
David Snyder	46%	4,402
Judy Adams	37.3%	3,569
Bob Helland	16.7%	1,595
Total Votes		9,566
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tom Emmer Incumbent	68.7%	13,590
A.J. Kern	26.4%	5,219
Patrick Munro	4.9%	962
Total Votes		19,771
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

2014

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 6th Congressional District of Minnesota held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Tom Emmer (R) defeated challengers Joe Perske (D) and John Denney (IND) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Emmer	56.3%	133,328
	Democratic	Joe Perske	38.4%	90,926
	Independence	John Denney	5.3%	12,457
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	135
Total Votes				236,846
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

General election candidates

• Tom Emmer a
• Joe Perske
• John Denney

August 12, 2014, primary results

Republican Primary

• Tom Emmera

• Rhonda Sivarajah - Anoka County Comissioner

Independence Party Primary

• John Denneya

Democratic Primary

• Joe Perske - Mayor of Sartella

Withdrew from race

• Jim Read

Failed to file

• Phil Krinkie

• Allan Levene

• Judy Adams

On May 29, 2013, Bachmann announced that she would not seek re-election in 2014, explaining, "The law limits anyone from serving as president of the United States for more than eight years. And in my opinion, well, eight years is also long enough for any individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district."

A May 15, 2013, poll by Public Policy Polling showed Jim Graves, Bachmann's likely Democratic challenger in 2014, leading Bachmann 47 percent to 45 percent, respectively, with a 4.4 point margin of error. This race would have been a rematch of the 2012 election, one that Graves lost by 1.2 percent. Bachmann had already started to run campaign ads.

Bachmann had also been under FBI scrutiny over campaign funding misuse related to her 2012 presidential campaign. Andy Parrish, her former chief of staff, reportedly said in a sworn affidavit that Bachmann "knew and approved of" payments to Iowa state Senator Kent Sorenson. Legislators are not allowed to be employed by political campaigns. Peter Waldron, national field coordinator in Iowa for Bachmann's campaign, filed an FEC complaint alleging that Bachmann paid Sorenson and misused leadership PAC funds to pay campaign staff, including consultant Guy Short.

In addition, Bachmann was also facing an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics over the campaign funding misuse allegations. Both Soreson and Bachmann denied that any payments were made.

2012

See also: Minnesota's 6th Congressional District elections, 2012

The 6th Congressional District of Minnesota held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Michele Bachmann (R) defeated Jim Graves (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michele Bachmann Incumbent	50.5%	179,240
	Democratic	Jim Graves	49.3%	174,944
	NA	Write-in	0.3%	969
Total Votes				355,153
Source: Minnesota Secretary of State, "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" (dead link)

2010
On November 2, 2010, Michele Bachmann (R) won re-election to the United States House. She defeated Tarryl Clark (D), Aubrey Immelman (I), Bob Anderson (Independence) and Dennis S. Ferche (I) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michele Bachmann incumbent	52.5%	159,476
	Democratic	Tarryl Clark	39.8%	120,846
	Independent	Bob Anderson	5.8%	17,698
	Independence	Aubrey Immelman	1.8%	5,490
	Write-in	Dennis S. Ferche	0%	3
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	178
Total Votes				303,691

2008
On November 4, 2008, Michele Bachmann (R) won re-election to the United States House. She defeated El Tinklenberg (D), Bob Anderson (Independence) and Aubrey Immelman (Write-In) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michele Bachmann incumbent	46.5%	187,817
	Democratic	El Tinklenberg	43.5%	175,786
	Independence	Bob Anderson	10.1%	40,643
	N/A	Aubrey Immelman	0%	20
Total Votes				404,266

2006
On November 7, 2006, Michele Bachmann (R) won election to the United States House. She defeated Patty Wetterling (D) and John Paul Binkowski (Independence) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michele Bachmann	50.1%	151,248
	Democratic	Patty Wetterling	42.1%	127,144
	Independence	John Paul Binkowski	7.8%	23,557
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	239
Total Votes				302,188

2004
On November 2, 2004, Mark R. Kennedy (R) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Patty Wetterling (D) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mark R. Kennedy incumbent	54%	203,669
	Democratic	Patty Wetterling	45.9%	173,309
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	246
Total Votes				377,224

2002
On November 5, 2002, Mark R, Kennedy (R) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Janet Robert (D) and Dan Becker (Independence) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mark R. Kennedy	57.3%	164,747
	Democratic	Janet Robert	35.1%	100,738
	Independence	Dan Becker	7.5%	21,484
	N/A	Wrtie-in	0.1%	343
Total Votes				287,312

2000
On November 7, 2000, Bill Luther (D) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Kline (R) and Ralph A. Hubbard (Constitution) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bill Luther incumbent	49.6%	176,340
	Republican	John Kline	48%	170,900
	Constitution	Ralph A. Hubbard	2.4%	8,584
Total Votes				355,824

1998
On November 3, 1998, Bill Luther (D) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated John Kline (R) and Eric M. Johnson (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bill Luther incumbent	50%	148,728
	Republican	John Kline	46%	136,866
	Libertarian	Eric M. Johnson	4%	11,805
	Write-in	Write-in	0.1%	302
Total Votes				297,701

1996
On November 5, 1996, William P. Luther (D) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Tad Jude (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 1996
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William P. Luther incumbent	55.8%	164,921
	Republican	Tad Jude	44%	129,988
	Write-in	Write-in	0.2%	572
Total Votes				295,481

1994
On November 8, 1994, William P. Luther (D) won election to the United States House. He defeated Tad Jude (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	William P. Luther	49.9%	113,740
	Republican	Tad Jude	49.7%	113,190
	Write-in	Write-in	0.4%	845
Total Votes				227,775

1992
On November 3, 1992, Rod Grams (R) won election to the United States House. He defeated Gerry Sikorski (D), Dean Barkley (I), James H. Peterson (I), and Tom Firnstahl (Natural Law) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 1992
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rod Grams	44.4%	133,564
	Democratic	Gerry Sikorski incumbent	33.2%	100,016
	Independent	Dean Barkley	16.1%	48,329
	Independents for Perot	James H. Peterson	5.5%	16,411
	Natural Law	Tom Firnstahl	0.8%	2,400
Total Votes				301,023

1990
On November 6, 1990, Gerry Sikorski (D) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Bruce D. Anderson (R) in the general election.

U.S. House, Minnesota District 6 General Election, 1990
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Gerry Sikorski incumbent	64.6%	164,816
	Republican	Bruce D. Anderson	35.3%	90,138
Total Votes				255,219

Redistricting

2020-2021

See also: Redistricting in Minnesota after the 2020 census

Minnesota enacted new congressional district boundaries on February 15, 2022, when a special judicial redistricting panel issued an order adopting final maps. In its unanimous order, the panel wrote, "To afford counties and municipalities time to complete local redistricting, the statutory deadline for completing congressional and legislative redistricting is '25 weeks before the state primary election in the year ending in two.' In this decennium, that date is February 15, 2022. That date has arrived, and the legislature has not yet enacted a congressional redistricting plan. To avoid delaying the electoral process, the panel must now act."

After the panel issued their order, Dave Orrick of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press wrote, "The impacts of the new maps weren’t immediately clear...Since Minnesota averted losing a congressional seat, the state’s eight districts for U.S. House members don’t appear jarringly different from current maps." Briana Bierschbach and Hunter Woodall wrote in the Star Tribune, “Under the new maps, the eighth Congressional district grew larger geographically to accommodate population declines in many rural counties.”Kyle Brown of Saint Paul television station KSTP wrote, “The state’s current balance of four Republican and four Democratic representatives in the U.S. House could be thrown for a loop with a radical shift in geography for the 2nd Congressional District, which by far had the most competitive race in 2020.”

How does redistricting in Minnesota work? In Minnesota, congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the Minnesota State Legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.

The Minnesota Constitution requires "that state Senate districts be contiguous, and that Representative districts be nested within Senate districts." State statutes apply contiguity requirements to all congressional and state legislative districts. Furthermore, state statutes stipulate that political subdivisions should not be divided "more than necessary."

Minnesota District 6
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Minnesota District 6
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

2010-2011

This is the 6th Congressional District of Minnesota after the 2001 redistricting process.

See also: Redistricting in Minnesota after the 2010 census

In 2011, the Minnesota State Legislature re-drew the congressional districts based on updated population information from the 2010 census.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

2026

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+10. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 10 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Minnesota's 6th the 134th most Republican district nationally.

2024

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Minnesota's 6th the 122nd most Republican district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Donald Trump (R) would have defeated Joe Biden (D) 57.7%-40.1%.

2022

Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Minnesota's 6th the 125th most Republican district nationally.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 40.1% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 57.7%.

2018

Heading into the 2018 elections, based on results from the 2016 and 2012 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Minnesota's 6th Congressional District the 111th most Republican nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.94. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.94 points toward that party.

See also

• Redistricting in Minnesota
• Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2024
• Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2022
• Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2020
• Minnesota's 6th Congressional District election, 2018

External links

• GovTrack District 6

Footnotes

[show]

Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Amy Klobuchar (D)

Tina Smith (D)

Representatives

District 1

Brad Finstad (R)

District 2

Angie Craig (D)

District 3

Kelly Morrison (D)

District 4

Betty McCollum (D)

District 5

Ilhan Omar (D)

District 6

Tom Emmer (R)

District 7

Michelle Fischbach (R)

District 8

Pete Stauber (R)

Democratic Party (6)

Republican Party (4)