Election 2024 live updates: Control of Minnesota House still unknown
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Editor’s note: MPR News staff will be updating this story with election news and analysis throughout Wednesday so check back for updates. See our live updates from Election Day here.
Find the latest results in all elections at elections.mpr.org.
6:30 a.m.: Control of Minnesota House still unknown
The Minnesota Senate will stay in DFL control, but the outcome of the state House of Representatives still hung in the balance early Wednesday.
House GOP Leader Lisa Demuth said early Wednesday that the GOP had flipped enough seats in Tuesday’s election for Republicans to hold a majority.
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Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman, though, said it was still too soon to say whether the DFL had retained control of the body.
Results from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website early Wednesday showed each party winning or leading in the race for 67 seats — with at least two seats poised for automatic recounts due to a margin of less than 0.5 percent.
The two races that appeared close enough to trigger automatic recounts were:
Central Minnesota’s District 14B, where incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Wolgamott was leading Republican Sue Ek by 28 votes — 0.14 percent
District 54A in the southwest Twin Cities metro area, where Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke was leading Republican Aaron Paul by 13 votes — 0.06 percent
The DFL held a 70-64 majority at the end of last session.
The results of this election will determine what lawmakers can move forward in terms of the state’s next two-year budget funding public schools, health care programs, law enforcement and a range of state agencies.
DFLers have run Minnesota the past two years with control of both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office.
— MPR News staff
6:15 a.m.: Minnesota voters poised to OK more lottery money for natural resources
Minnesota voters appear to have renewed a constitutional amendment that dedicates revenue from the state’s lottery toward protecting the environment and natural resources.
With more than 99 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday, an estimated 77.53 percent of voters had backed renewing the amendment.
To pass, a majority of all voters need to approve the amendment. Leaving a ballot blank constitutes a “no” vote.
The amendment was first approved in 1988, and extended 10 years later. Since 1991, more than $1 billion in lottery proceeds have been funneled into more than 1,700 projects around the state.
If the early results hold and the measure is approved, the amendment will increase the amount of money that can be spent from the fund each year by an additional 1.5 percent. The extra revenue will fund a new community grant program designed for underserved communities and organizations.
— Kirsti Marohn
5:57 a.m.: Wisconsin U.S. Senate race too early to call
It was too early to declare a winner Wednesday in Wisconsin’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race that pit two-term Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin against Republican Eric Hovde, a millionaire businessman who is backed by former President Donald Trump and poured millions of his own money into the contest.
With 99 percent of votes counted early Wednesday, Baldwin was leading by less than one percentage point.
Baldwin ended her planned victory party in downtown Madison without taking the stage. Republicans remained gathered nearby at Hovde’s party anticipating a race call.
Just after 4:30 a.m., Baldwin issued a statement declaring victory — though the Associated Press had not yet called the race.
Democrats were hoping for a Baldwin win to prevent the state's two Senate seats being held by Republicans.
While Baldwin’s voting record is liberal, she emphasized bipartisanship throughout the campaign. Baldwin became the first statewide Democratic candidate to win an endorsement from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization, in more than 20 years.
Hovde tried to portray Baldwin as an out-of-touch liberal career politician who didn’t do enough to combat inflation, illegal immigration and crime.
— Associated Press
5:50 a.m.: South Dakota voters reject abortion rights measure; vote on marijuana too early to call
Voters in South Dakota have rejected a proposal to add protections for abortion rights to the state constitution, preserving a near-total ban there.
The South Dakota measure would have barred restrictions on terminating a pregnancy during its first 12 weeks.
From the 13th through the 26th week of pregnancy, state regulations would have had to be “reasonably related" to the patient's physical health. Even after the 26th week, the state would have had to permit abortions to preserve a patient's life or health.
The ban in place since the Dobbs decision makes it a felony to perform an abortion except to save the life of the patient.
The abortion measure was in a crowded field of ballot initiatives for Tuesday's general election that also included a proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The vote on marijuana was still too early to call Wednesday.
The measure would legalize recreational marijuana for those 21 and older, and up to 2 ounces in a form other than concentrated cannabis or cannabis products. The measure also would allow the cultivation of plants, with restrictions.
South Dakota voters rejected a measure to remove the state sales tax from food, and a plan for a single, all-candidate primary election with the top two finishers for each office advancing.
— Associated Press
5:45 a.m.: Republican Kelly Armstrong to be North Dakota’s next governor
Republican U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong won election as North Dakota’s next governor on Tuesday, continuing the GOP's three-decade grip on the highest job in the conservative state.
The state’s lone U.S. congressman beat Democratic state Sen. Merrill Piepkorn and independent candidate Michael Coachman for the post. Armstrong, a 48-year-old attorney, is in his third term in the House. He now has become the first member of Congress in 52 years to be elected the state’s governor.
Armstrong will be sworn in on Dec. 15, weeks before the biennial Legislature convenes with an expected Republican supermajority in Bismarck. He will succeed outgoing GOP Gov. Doug Burgum, who did not seek a third term. Burgum was a finalist to be former President Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate.
Voters on Tuesday rejected a measure to do away with the current property tax in North Dakota; lawmakers expect to address the simmering issue of property taxes in their upcoming session. Marijuana was also on the ballot, as North Dakota voters were deciding whether to legalize recreational possession and use of the drug. The outcome of the proposal was still too early to call Wednesday morning.
— Associated Press
5:40 a.m.: GOP retains 2 Wisconsin congressional seats; third race too close to call
Republicans held on to two key congressional seats in Wisconsin and were on the verge of retaining a third — in the western part of the state — in Tuesday's elections.
Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil won reelection to a fourth term representing a district in southeast Wisconsin. He defeated Peter Barca, the last Democrat to hold the seat in 1995.
Former gas station chain owner Tony Wied, running his first race, won the contest for northeast Wisconsin’s open congressional district, defeating an abortion rights advocate.
Western Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District was too close to call early Wednesday. First-term Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden was leading Democratic small-business owner and political activist Rebecca Cooke.
The 3rd District had been represented by a Democrat for 26 years before it flipped in 2022 with the win by Van Orden, in the most competitive district in the state.
Van Orden is a former Navy SEAL who was at the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and remains one of Trump’s loudest backers in Wisconsin. Cooke won a three-person primary to take on Van Orden. She raised more money than any other Democratic challenger in the state, a sign of Democratic optimism for the race.
— Associated Press
4:40 a.m.: Trump wins Wisconsin, clinches presidency
Former President Donald Trump won the key state of Wisconsin on Wednesday, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in a critical battleground.
With the win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency.
Trump narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016, becoming the first Republican since Ronald Reagan to capture the state. He lost it in 2020 to Democrat Joe Biden.
Both Harris and Trump made Wisconsin a central focus of their campaigns.
Trump’s win means Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will return to St. Paul after falling short of a bid for the vice presidency.
Walz is set to serve out the remaining two years of his term after spending months crisscrossing the country campaigning with Harris.
— Associated Press
1 a.m.: What to know about vote counting
When and how are votes counted?
While Minnesotans cast their votes on paper ballots, electronic equipment is used to count those ballots. Tabulators used in Minnesota are optical scan, so they “read” the ballot and record a vote for each candidate that has their target — usually an oval — filled in on the ballot.
Absentee ballots can be inserted into ballot counters starting 18 days before Election Day, but no totals are produced until polling places close that night. County election officials enter unofficial election results on the secretary of state’s website, according to the secretary of state’s website.
How do we know the totals are accurate?
Minnesota election administrators use a number of procedures to ensure equipment will accurately record valid votes, according to the secretary of state’s website. Equipment is approved by the state, tested locally before elections and the results are audited after elections.
Additionally, according to Minnesota Statute 206.89, after all state general elections, Minnesota counties will perform a postelection review of election results returned by the ballot counters used in the state.
The review is a hand count of the ballots for each eligible election in selected precincts. This year, the reviewed elections will be U.S. President, U.S. Senator and U.S. Representatives. The results of the hand count will be compared with results from the voting system used in those precincts.
When are the election results official?
The results of an election are not official until they have been reviewed by a canvassing board.
A county canvassing board certifies votes cast within a county for races that go beyond the county boundaries and election results for county offices and legislative districts that are entirely contained within the county.
The state canvassing board will certify results for federal offices, statewide offices and legislative districts that cross county lines. The board meets on the 16th day following a state general election.
Each municipality and school district has its own canvassing board to certify results in those races
After results are certified by their canvassing board, they are considered “official” but races may be called before becoming official.
Who are Minnesota’s electors?
Electoral votes are votes cast by a group of electors from each state. There are a total of 538 electors. Each state is assigned a number of electoral votes based on population size. Minnesota has 10 electoral votes.
Here is a list of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) electors.
Here is a list of the Republican Party of Minnesota electors
The popular vote is the sum of all individual votes for a certain candidate. If a candidate wins the popular vote in Minnesota, they will receive all 10 electoral votes.
To win the presidential election, a candidate must obtain at least 270 electoral votes.
The national popular vote — the sum of all votes for each candidate across the U.S. — does not determine the winner of the election.
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