Minnesota election preview, 2024
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Last updated: Sept. 25, 2024
Thousands of general elections are taking place across the United States on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices at the federal, state, and local levels. This is one of 50 pages in which Ballotpedia previews the elections happening in each state as part of the Daily Brew’s 50 states in 25 days series.
This page provides an overview of all elections happening in Minnesota within our coverage scope on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices for eight U.S. Representatives, one U.S. Senator, 134 state Representatives, three State Supreme Court Justices, and seven Intermediate Appellate Court Justices. Additionally, there is one statewide ballot measure on the ballot in Minnesota. On this page, you will also find information regarding:
- How to vote in Minnesota
- The elected offices that Minnesota voters can expect to see on their ballots
- The races in Minnesota that Ballotpedia is covering as battlegrounds
- The ballot measures that voters in Minnesota will decide on
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
- The partisan balance of Minnesota's congressional delegation and state government
- Past presidential election results in Minnesota
- The competitiveness of legislative elections in Minnesota
- The candidates who are on the ballot in Minnesota
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Minnesota
What's on the ballot?
2024 elections
- See also: Minnesota elections, 2024
Minnesota voters will elect one U.S. Senator and eight U.S. Representatives. One U.S. House district is open because the incumbent did not run for re-election.
There are no state executive offices up for election.
All 134 seats in the state House are up for election. Although no seats in the state Senate are up for a regularly scheduled election, there will be a special election to determine partisan control of the chamber. There are 20 open seats in the state House.
Three seats on the state supreme court and seven on the intermediate appellate court are up for election. Minnesota is one of 13 states that use nonpartisan elections at the state supreme court level and one of 19 states that use this selection method for at least one type of court below the supreme court level. No seats on the state supreme court or the intermediate appellate court are open.
Four seats on the Minneapolis Board of Education are up for election, including one open seat. The Minneapolis Public Schools is one of 475 school districts included in Ballotpedia's coverage of school board elections. This includes all school districts in the 100 largest cities by population and the 200 largest school districts by student enrollment.
Municipal elections will be held in Hennepin County for county commission, county park commission, and district court. Municipal elections will also be held in Ramsey County for county commission and district court judges. Hennepin and Ramsey are two of 80 counties included in Ballotpedia's coverage of municipal elections.
Minnesota is one of 26 states where we are expanding our local election coverage beyond the nation's biggest cities, school districts, and state capitals. Including those mentioned above, Ballotpedia is following local elections for 4,237 seats for offices, including local councils, county commissions, and other county-level positions.
Below is a list of Minnesota elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2024. Click the links to learn more about each type:
| Minnesota elections, 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Elections? | More information |
| U.S. Senate | ✓ | Click here |
| U.S. House | ✓ | Click here |
| Congress special election | — | — |
| Governor | — | — |
| Other state executive | — | — |
| State Senate | — | — |
| State House | ✓ | Click here |
| Special state legislative | ✓ | Click here |
| State Supreme Court | ✓ | Click here |
| Intermediate appellate courts | ✓ | Click here |
| School boards | ✓ | Click here |
| Municipal government | ✓ | Click here |
| Recalls | ✓ | Click here |
| Ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
| Local ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
Legend: ✓ election(s) / — no elections
Subject to Ballotpedia's scope
Your ballot
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Noteworthy elections
As of Sept. 26, 2024, Ballotpedia has identified two elections as battleground races. Those are the races that we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive or compelling.
- Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024: Incumbent Angie Craig (D), Joe Teirab (R), and Thomas Bowman (Conservative Party) are running. In 2022, Craig’s margin of victory was 5.3 percentage points. As of Sept. 24, 2024, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Likely Democratic and three rating it Lean Democratic.
- Minnesota House of Representatives elections, 2024: CNanalysis rated the chamber elections as Very Likely Democratic. Minnesota is also one of 11 state government trifectas included in Ballotpedia's annual trifecta vulnerability ratings this year. Minnesota is one of three states with a Democratic trifecta that is moderately vulnerable this year.
Another race to watch is the special election to fill the vacant seat for state Senate District 45. Democrats have a 33-33 majority with one vacancy in the state Senate, so the special election will decide which party will have a majority in the chamber.
Ballot measures
- See also: Minnesota 2024 ballot measures
There is one statewide ballot measure on the ballot in Minnesota.
| Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amendment 1 | Extend the dedication of lottery-derived revenue to Environment and Natural Resources Fund for 25 years |
|
2,526,205 (83%) |
530,504 (17%) |
Ten ballot measures were on the ballot in Minnesota from 1996 to 2022. Voters approved eight measures and defeated two.
State analysis
Partisan balance
Republicans and Democrats represent four districts each in Minnesota's U.S. House delegation. In the U.S. House, Republicans have a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.
Both of Minnesota's U.S. Senators—Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith—are Democrats. Democrats have a majority in the U.S. Senate. There are 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four independents. Three independents caucus with the Democratic Party, and one other counts towards the Democratic majority for committee purposes.
Democrats have a 33-33 majority with one vacancy in the state Senate and a 68-64 majority with two vacancies in the state House. Democrats won a majority in the state Senate in 2022, gaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2012. Democrats have had a majority in the state House since 2018.
Because the governor is a Democrat, Minnesota is one of 17 states with a Democratic trifecta. It has held this status since 2023, when the Democratic majority assumed office in the state Senate. Minnesota's attorney general and secretary of state are also Democrats. This makes Minnesota one of 20 states with a Democratic triplex. It has held this status since 2018, when a Democratic triplex replaced the state's Republican triplex.
Past presidential election results in Minnesota
- See also: Presidential election in Minnesota, 2024
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2020 presidential election, 51.8% of Minnesotans lived in one of the state's nine Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 38.6% lived in one of 59 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Minnesota was Solid Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Minnesota following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| Minnesota county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Democratic | 9 | 51.8% | |||||
| Solid Republican | 59 | 38.6% | |||||
| Trending Republican | 15 | 5.8% | |||||
| Battleground Democratic | 4 | 3.8% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 13 | 55.7% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 74 | 44.3% | |||||
State legislative competitiveness
According to Ballotpedia's annual state legislative competitiveness report, Minnesota had a Competitiveness Index of 38.6, ranking it 15th of the 44 states that held elections.
- 20 of the 134 seats up for election were open (15%)
- Seven of the 114 incumbents who ran for re-election faced contested primaries (6%)
- 127 of the 134 seats up for election were contested by both major parties (95%)
2010-2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Minnesota, 2010-2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 11.9% | 4.5% | 97.0% | 37.8 | 11 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 25.4% | 7.1% | 96.0% | 42.8 | 10 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 11.2% | 4.2% | 93.3% | 36.2 | 12 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | 13.9% | 6.4% | 96.5% | 38.9 | 12 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 17.2% | 6.3% | 97.8% | 40.4 | 15 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 9.5% | 10.4% | 96.5% | 38.8 | 10 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 31.3% | 14.1% | 87.1% | 44.2 | 11 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 14.9% | 6.1% | 94.8% | 38.6 | 15 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
In 2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents. Click on headings for more state-specific information.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in Minnesota, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
| House | 14.9% | 6.1% | 94.8% | 38.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senate | Did not hold elections | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 14.9% | 6.1% | 94.8% | 38.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
List of candidates
See also
Footnotes
