In more than a dozen Minnesota House races, no GOP candidate is running
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Republicans and Democrats are vying to gain majorities at the Capitol this election after two years of a closely divided Minnesota Legislature. But while all 201 seats are on the ballot, Republicans are not fielding candidates in more than a dozen races.
Of all 134 House seats up for election this year, 17 lack a Republican candidate. Some of those are in areas that might be expected, in deep blue areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul. That’s the case in four Minnesota Senate races without GOP candidates. But in other areas, one reason is a leftward shift in districts that have historically been in play.
In Woodbury, for instance, new apartment buildings, condos and houses are going up at a strong clip. The city’s growth has come with a change in political allegiance.
In both House races in the city, there are no Republicans on the ballot. In district 47A, DFL Rep. Shelley Buck is running unopposed. In district 47B, DFL Rep. Ethan Cha is running for reelection without a GOP opponent. However, Kim Wilson, a member of the Woodbury City Council since 2020, is running as an independent.
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"I am a conservative. I am not only socially conservative, but I am fiscally conservative,” she said.
She’s running to cut wasteful spending, support law enforcement and protect property rights, among other issues.
But she did not want to run on a party platform. Wilson said she’s enjoyed the politics of the City Council, where candidates don’t run with political parties. Wilson says she's running because she felt someone needed to step up, but she doesn't want a political party trying to give her marching orders.
That means she doesn't have a party helping her. Instead, she's running her campaign with the help of a friend out of her home and her van.
“Here's the old van that used to haul my kids around, but now it just hauls all of my campaign stuff around,” she said, sliding open the door of her 2013 conversion van, filled with campaign signs and campaign literature.
The other House races without a GOP option on the ballot include Mankato, Plymouth, Golden Valley and North St. Paul. These areas have moved leftward over the last few elections but have supported Republicans in the not-so-distant past.
"A lot of those seats are seats that have Democrats already in place. They'd be challenging an incumbent, and you're challenging in an area where it's more expensive to run a race,” said Preya Samsundar, a GOP strategist.
Samsundar said midterms are tough for the party in power nationally. She thinks the Republican Party is being strategic with its resources.
"They're focusing on protecting their incumbents, and then target races where they have more of a likelihood of succeeding and flipping those seats,” she said.
Zack Stephenson, the DFL leader in the Minnesota House, says he's not surprised to have that many unopposed elections.
"It really shows a lack of enthusiasm on the Republican side,” he said. “Midterm elections are often decided by turnout. And you know, if you can't even find a candidate who's willing to run, are you going to be able to turn out your voters in the fall? The primary suggests no."
In Plymouth, DFL Rep. Ginny Klevorn is running unopposed. Just a decade ago, Klevorn lost her bid for a House seat in the same area.
"I was a first-time candidate, and I ran an exceptionally hard and strong campaign. And we knocked, I think, over 50,000 doors, but I still lost by 8 percentage points,” she said.
She won in the next election and has held the seat ever since. Redistricting changed the makeup of her district a bit, but Klevorn said she was surprised that she doesn't have an opponent this election.
"I've always had an opponent, some stronger than others, but I've never been unopposed,” she said. “I was stunned. I was expecting someone to file at the last minute."
The lack of competition hasn't stopped her from campaigning in her district, but it's also freed her up to door knock for other DFL candidates in more competitive districts.
