2018 Minnesota House of Representatives election

The 2018 Minnesota House of Representatives election was held in the U.S. state of Minnesota on November 6, 2018, to elect members to the House of Representatives of the 91st Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held in several districts on August 14, 2018. The election coincided with the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial election for governor, a special election for the Minnesota Senate, and other elections.

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) won a majority of seats, ending the Republican majority that began with the 2014 Minnesota House of Representatives election. The new legislature convened on January 8, 2019.

Background The last election resulted in the Republicans winning a majority of 76 seats, increasing the majority of 72 seats it won in 2014. It was the first time that a party has retained control of the House of Representatives since the DFL in the 2008 Minnesota House of Representatives election. In conjunction with the result of the Senate election, it also resulted in the return of all-Republican control of the Legislature since 2012—only the second time the Republicans have held control of both houses since the return of partisan elections to the House in 1974 and the Senate in 1976 and marking the end of two years of split control between a Republican-held House and a DFL-held Senate.

A special election was held for District 32B on February 14, 2017, following the invalidation of its general election results. On September 8, 2016, the Minnesota Supreme Court found Republican incumbent Bob Barrett ineligible for election because he did not reside in his district. As the ruling occurred within 80 days of the general election, Barrett's name could not be replaced on the ballot. Republican Anne Neu won the special election, increasing the Republican majority to 77 seats.

Electoral system The 134 members of the House of Representatives were elected from single-member districts by first-past-the-post voting to two-year terms. Contested nominations of the DFL and Republican parties for each district were determined by an open primary election. Minor-party and independent candidates were nominated by petition. Write-in candidates had to file a request with the secretary of state's office for votes for them to be counted. The filing period was from May 22 through June 5, 2018.

Retiring members

Republican Matt Dean, 38B Joe Hoppe, 47B Jeff Howe, 13A: To seek election to be District 13's senator in the Minnesota Senate. Jim Newberger, 15B: To seek election to be Minnesota's Class 1 U.S. senator. Joyce Peppin, 34A: Resigned effective July 2, 2018, to join the Minnesota Rural Electric Association as director of government affairs and general counsel. Mark Uglem, 36A Abigail Whelan, 35A

DFL Susan Allen, 62B Jon Applebaum, 44B David Bly, 20B Karen Clark, 62A Peggy Flanagan, 46A: To seek election to be lieutenant governor as Tim Walz's running mate. Debra Hilstrom, 40B: To seek election to be attorney general. Clark Johnson, 19A Sheldon Johnson, 67B Erin Maye Quade, 57A: To seek election to be lieutenant governor as Erin Murphy's running mate. Jason Metsa, 6B: To seek election to be Minnesota's 8th congressional district representative. Erin Murphy, 64A: To seek election to be governor. Ilhan Omar, 60B: To seek election to be Minnesota's 5th congressional district representative. Paul Rosenthal, 49B: Resigned effective September 5, 2018, to become the director of external affairs for Western Governors University. Linda Slocum, 50A Paul Thissen, 61B: Resigned effective April 20, 2018, to become a justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. JoAnn Ward, 53A

Predictions SourceRankingAs of Governing | October 8, 2018

Competitive districts MinnPost and MPR News considered a total of 18 House districts competitive in 2018, based on past election results, campaign spending trends, and conversations with campaigns. MinnPost considered 15 districts competitive, 11 of which were held by the Republicans and four by the DFL. According to MinnPost, their list was not exhaustive and could have spoken to broader trends in the election. MPR News also considered 15 districts competitive, 12 of which were held by the Republicans and three by the DFL.

DistrictIncumbentPartyFirstelected2016resultMinnPostMPR NewsResult4BPaul MarquartDFL200053.85%Hold5BSandy LaymanRepublican201653.61%Hold19AClark JohnsonDFL201352.68%Hold34BDennis SmithRepublican201455.83%DFL gain36AMark UglemRepublican201258.21%DFL gain37AErin KoegelDFL201647.17%Hold38BMatt DeanRepublican200456.94%DFL gain42ARandy JessupRepublican201650.18%DFL gain44ASarah AndersonRepublican200654.04%DFL gain47BJoe HoppeRepublican200262.47%Hold49ADario AnselmoRepublican201651.04%DFL gain52BRegina BarrRepublican201650.17%DFL gain53BKelly FentonRepublican201456.35%DFL gain54AKeith FrankeRepublican201651.43%DFL gain55ABob LoonanRepublican201455.78%DFL gain56BRoz PetersonRepublican201452.37%DFL gain57AErin Maye QuadeDFL201652.23%Hold57BAnna WillsRepublican201253.66%DFL gain

Primary elections results A primary election was held in 21 districts to nominate Republican and DFL candidates. Eight Republican nominations and 14 DFL nominations were contested. Seven incumbents were opposed for their party's nomination. Notably, District 55A Republican incumbent Bob Loonan lost his party's nomination.

DistrictPartyCandidatesVotes%6BRepublicanSkeeter Tomczak2,402100.00DFLDave Lislegard4,24368.20Shaun Hainey1,97831.8015BRepublicanShane Mekeland2,258100.00DFLKarla Scapanski1,16666.33Jessica Filiaggi59233.6718ARepublicanDean Urdahl2,534100.00DFLJustin Vold1,06561.60Robert Wright66438.4022ARepublicanJoe Schomacker3,275100.00DFLMaxwell Kaufman1,33153.82Brian Abrahamson1,14246.1824ARepublicanJohn Petersburg2,111100.00DFLJoe Heegard1,72778.68Ethan Cords46821.3226ARepublicanPaul Wilson1,624100.00DFLTina Liebling3,55589.93Abdulkadir Abdalla39810.0731BRepublicanCal Bahr1,82956.89Tom Hackbarth1,38643.11DFLSue Larson1,969100.0034ARepublicanKristin Robbins2,01059.33Brad Ganzer1,37840.67DFLDan Solon2,444100.0040BRepublicanRobert Marvin957100.00DFLSamantha Vang1,70546.65Cindy Yang1,58743.42Alexander Koenig3639.9341BDFLMary Kunesh-Podein4,71885.78Jeffrey Wagner78214.2246BRepublicanMelissa Moore63360.00Bob Helland42240.00DFLCheryl Youakim5,458100.0047BRepublicanGreg Boe1,32456.97Vincent Beaudette1,00043.03DFLDonzel Leggett2,848100.0053ARepublicanAndy Turonie97056.86Bill Dahn73643.14DFLTou Xiong3,429100.0055ARepublicanErik Mortensen1,72757.76Bob Loonan1,26342.24DFLBrad Tabke2,137100.0057ARepublicanMatt Lundin1,948100.00DFLRobert Bierman1,65545.42Linda Garrett-Johnson1,11630.63Roxanne Mindeman50713.91Kyle Koch2206.04Jake Cassidy1464.0159ARepublicanFred Statema317100.00DFLFue Lee3,62079.53Grace Moua93220.4759BRepublicanLacy Johnson418100.00DFLRaymond Dehn3,31752.60Lisa Neal-Delgado2,98947.4060BRepublicanJoseph Patiño19067.14Fadumo Taani9332.86DFLMohamud Noor2,90939.73Peter Wagenius2,07628.35Cordelia Pierson1,28717.58Haaris Pasha3745.11Joshua Preston3354.58Mary Mellen2573.51Angelo Jaramillo841.1562ARepublicanBruce Lundeen218100.00DFLHodan Hassan2,20728.41Osman Ahmed1,60720.68Omar Fateh1,60220.62Margarita Ortega1,53119.71Jen Kader82210.5862BRepublicanRonald Peterson19667.82Ross Tenneson9332.18DFLAisha Gomez7,075100.0066BRepublicanDavid Richard519100.00DFLJohn Lesch3,28775.15Trahern Crews1,08724.85Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

Results

PartyCandidatesVotesSeats%+/−+/−%Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party1341,388,93854.40+5.2975+1855.97Republican Party of Minnesota1311,151,13545.09−5.2559−1844.03Libertarian Party of Minnesota21,0670.04−0.05000.00Independent38,1840.32+0.13000.00Write-inN/A3,9250.15−0.09000.00Total2,553,249100.00±0.00134±0100.00Invalid/blank votes58,1162.23−4.03Turnout (out of 4,064,389 eligible voters)2,611,36564.25−10.47Source: Minnesota Secretary of State

District results