Minnesota Senate Race Could Bolster GOP Firewall

Real Clear Politics ^ | Aug 20, 2018 | Kathryn Cora Hinderaker

[centurion316]

With control of both the House and the Senate in play on Election Day 2018, one unlikely state could prove pivotal: Minnesota. Known as a stubbornly Democratic state—Minnesota hasn’t voted Republican in a presidential election since 1972—it is sometimes written off by Republicans. The state has produced a roster of famously progressive politicians, from Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale to Paul Wellstone and Keith Ellison.

Also Al Franken. When he resigned his Senate seat last year after being caught up in the #MeToo movement, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed his own lieutenant governor, Tina Smith, to fill the seat. Smith is now running in a special election to retain it for the remainder of what would have been Franken’s term.

Despite having been elected statewide, Smith was relatively unknown in Minnesota. She spent most of her career working behind the scenes as a Planned Parenthood executive and as a staffer for various Democratic politicians. ...

More recently, pundits belatedly realized that Minnesota also features a competitive, and highly interesting, Senate race, even though the state last elected a Republican senator in 2002. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar is comfortably ahead of state Sen. Jim Newberger. But in a year in which female candidates have shown staying power, Tina Smith has drawn a woman as her election opponent. And this particular woman, state Sen. Karin Housley, is well-known statewide.

[centurion316]

This is another race that has been largely ignored as the Main Street Media have decided that the Democrat will win. If only the media could vote, that would be true, but ordinary people get to vote in this race and they may not like the media's choice.

[Dr. Sivana]

Could Minnesota be following the path forged by Wisconsin? The modern Democrat Party isn’t the party the Hubert Humphrey once led, that’s for sure.

[Democrats hate too much]

Sounds like a good Trump rally spot.

[MplsSteve]

I live in Minnesota and while I find Housley to be not quite as conservative as I’d like, she is an energetic campaigner - much like the article says.

She does have the ability to bridge the gender gap that seems to be showing up in many candidates polling this year.

In a year where they are so many worthy candidates out there, she’s at least worth a $10 or $20 contribution - or maybe more if you’re so inclined.

Here’s her site:

https://www.housleyforsenate.com/

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Minnesota does not stand alone with Democrat Senate positions in danger. The Republicans could win between six & twelve Senate seats from Democrats...and, I am not talking about those that today, the Media Pundits, Pollsters say are in play.

Fact is: the Media Pundits & Pollsters have nary a clue what is brewing on the wide home front. I will not list any of the states here...but, stay tuned, get ready for surprises like you saw on election evening, 2016!!!

[centurion316]

The Democrats and the media did not bother to poll in 2016 in the “Blue Wall States”, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. They knew that they would win there. Oops. Some of them learned their lesson, but most did not and they are drinking the kool aid on Democrat voter enthusiasm. 200 Commie wackadoodles in an Antifa demonstration does not signal enthusiasm, it just tells us that someone is still paying the demonstrators to show up.

[ThankYouFreeRepublic]

I watch the youtube 2016 electron results all the time. (It’s my happy place.) But it you look at the primary results of those states, the dems brought out many more times for their candidates than the GOP did. It’s making me very concerned.

[dixie1202]

The trend is our friend. Minnesota is going Red in 2020.

[yodalego]

The local Democratic Party the DFL Democratic Farmer Labor party is going to change their name to reflect their true membership. The new name is DMA Democratic Muslim Anarchist party. The farmers and labor are smarter than you think.

[Impy]

The first poll after the primary showed Housely in striking distance.

[BobL]

So now add MN to NJ (reported earlier), and PA (reported today) as TOSSUPS. These were 3 shoe-in states for Dems to be re-elected. Now they all will require BIG MONEY just to hold the seats.

We may be popping corks on election day if this keeps up!

[centurion316]

Great point. BIG BUCKS will have to be spent on more races reducing the pW (probability of Win) for the Democrats. Considering the numbers of Senate seats that they must defend and the large numbers of Republican House seats that they must flip, they are not going to buy seats like they did with the early special elections.