Of the 134 seats that were up for grabs in the Minnesota House, 10 were won by candidates who received less than 52 percent of the vote. Of those, 8 were Republicans, while 2 were Democrats.
Republicans who just got by:
- Debra Kiel, 1B
- Carolyn McElfatrick, 3B
- King Banaian, 15B
- Glenn Gruenhagen, 25A
- Kelby Woodard, 25B
- Rich Murray, 27A
- Branden Petersen, 49B
- Kathy Lohmer, 56A
And now for the DFL side:
- Lyle Koenen, 20B
- Patty Fritz, 26B
Third party votes
In three races, the third parties and write-ins won more than the difference between the GOP and the DFL in vote totals. All three were won by Republicans.
- In 15B, the difference was 0.09 percent; write-ins won 0.25 percent of the vote.
- In 49B, the difference was 2.86 percent; the Constitution Party candidate and write-ins won 2.93 percent.
- In 56A, the difference was 4.92; the Independence Party got 5.52 percent.
Blowouts
Finally, what about blowout races, which I define as those in which one candidate gets 60 percent or more of the vote? Republicans won 37 of those races; Democrats won 33.
See also the official results page.
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