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United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primary)

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U.S. Senate, Minnesota
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: June 2, 2020
Primary: August 11, 2020
General: November 3, 2020
Pre-election incumbent:
Tina Smith (Democratic)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voting in Minnesota
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
U.S. Senate, Minnesota
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th
Minnesota elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

A Democratic Party primary took place on August 11, 2020, in Minnesota to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the state's general election on November 3, 2020.

Incumbent Tina Smith advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
June 2, 2020
August 11, 2020
November 3, 2020


Heading into the election, the incumbent was Tina Smith (Democrat), who was first elected in 2018.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Minnesota utilizes an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[1]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Minnesota's United States Senate Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the state's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Minnesota modified its primary election process as follows:

  • Voting procedures: The absentee/mail-in ballot postmark deadline was extended to August 11 and the receipt deadline was extended to August 13. The witness requirement for absentee/mail-in ballots was suspended.
  • Political party events: The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota opted to conduct all local and district-level conventions online. The Republican Party of Minnesota also opted to conduct all local party conventions online.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.


Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Minnesota

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Tina Smith
Tina Smith
 
87.1
 
497,501
Image of Paula Overby
Paula Overby
 
5.3
 
30,497
Image of Ahmad Hassan
Ahmad Hassan
 
3.5
 
20,037
Image of Steve Carlson
Steve Carlson Candidate Connection
 
2.9
 
16,429
Image of Christopher Seymore
Christopher Seymore
 
1.1
 
6,480

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 570,944
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = 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

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles created in one of two ways. Either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey or Ballotpedia staff created a profile after identifying the candidate as noteworthy.[2] Ballotpedia staff compiled profiles based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements.

Steve Carlson

Image of Steve Carlson

FacebookXYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "I am very experienced in government and support true democratic principles-the choosing of representatives of the whole state to represent the interests of Minnesota, and the entire nation, at the U.S. Senate. Making some of the most important decisions the nation needs to make. My strong background is in education, particularly higher education. My webisite explains how the U.S. Senate can help, using the land grant model, to make tuition free as Minnesota's Constitution specifies, but to do this across the West, developing federal-owned land grants with higher education, and economic and community development, more jobs for teachers, better use of technology. I have also been party to litigation for my family to complete breast cancer treatment promised under the federal BCCPTA program. That started in 2016 and just ended June 15, 2020 at the U.S. Supreme Court. My work at the American Cancer Society alerted me to Minnesota's MA-BC so when my family was struck we went there. Minnesota is a key state in the nation and it's critical we develop and highlight our role as the last state settled by an immigration program from Europe. Yet our first MN born governor wasn't until 1916, 60 years after admission to the Union! Our media and political organizations need to lead out from Minnesota's important role, not just vote with Chuck Schumer. Pro-life, pro-2ndAm, pro-education, pro-jobs, pro-farming and mining. Journalist and life-long student, polyglot. Cultural Pluralism."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Make America Great Again and expand that to all within our borders, all our citizens, many of whom have been left behind, many who have great contributions yet to make-great. I believe America has a destiny, and has liberated many people. We are founded on liberty, and our success lies in encouraing and giving access to education, personal development, economic development, equal opportunity. As the co-author of the University of Minnesota's Cultural Pluralism requirement, I stressed how we must glean knowledge not only from our diverse European background, but also African American, Chicano/Latino, American Indian and Asian American. I worked with newspapers owned by these groups to advance this. And now in the U.S. Senate we must do cont

We're in a public health crisis. I appreciate the leadership of President Trump to help guide us through this, and support him. But we still don't know how this will be resolved. Vaccines? Therapeutics? But we have had many vaccines and they are part of the problem. Covid19 is triggering many underlying conditions and we need to learn what those are. Right now we're maximiing testing, but we're not using those results beyond the primitive level of total avoidance of the virus. Which is good. But how do we understand the true cause of this and the threats to the susceptible in our population? There is a health disparity here, which combines all kinds fo health issues. Knowledge is needed, not crying "racism" and destroying cities..

We need to transform our economy. This has always been the source of our greatness, because it reflects our liberty, our key founding principle. It's Biblical, " "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." And we include many nations in that principle. Now Covid19 has restricted us, but there is broad confidence that my making and carrying the right decisions, including educating our students, we will come back and continue to lead the world. We must lead in manufacturing, in technology, in agriculture, in urban development, and in human rights and human development. I have brought this principle to the Mexican border issue as well. We must work with Mexico to develop the border region. With border security, and community.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. Senate Minnesota in 2020.


Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[3] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[4] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Tina Smith Democratic Party $16,468,405 $16,100,432 $801,755 As of December 31, 2020
Steve Carlson Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Ahmad Hassan Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Paula Overby Democratic Party $1,148 $1,258 $359 As of December 31, 2020
Christopher Seymore Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.


General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[5]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[6][7][8]

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Minnesota, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Minnesota Legislature, "Minn. Stat. § 204D.08," accessed October 21, 2025
  2. ↑ Candidate Connection surveys completed before September 26, 2019, were not used to generate candidate profiles. In battleground primaries, Ballotpedia based its selection of noteworthy candidates on polling, fundraising, and noteworthy endorsements. In battleground general elections, all major party candidates and any other candidates with the potential to impact the outcome of the race were included.
  3. ↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
  4. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
  5. ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
  6. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
  7. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
  8. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018


Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Amy Klobuchar (D)
Tina Smith (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
Tom Emmer (R)
District 7
District 8
Democratic Party (6)
Republican Party (4)


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