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  Wellstone: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Boschwitz: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Other: >90% Tie: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50% No votes | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Minnesota |
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The 1996 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democrat Paul Wellstone won reelection to a second term defeating former Republican Senator Rudy Boschwitz in a rematch. [1]
The primary election was held on September 10, 1996.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Paul Wellstone (incumbent) | 194,699 | 86.41% | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Richard Franson | 16,465 | 7.31% | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Ed Hansen | 9,990 | 4.43% | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Oloveuse S. Savior | 4,180 | 1.86% | |
| Turnout | 225,334 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rudy Boschwitz | 158,678 | 80.59% | |
| Republican | Stephen Young | 16,324 | 8.29% | |
| Republican | Bert McKasy | 12,711 | 6.46% | |
| Republican | Monti Moreno | 6,536 | 3.32% | |
| Republican | John J. Zeleniak | 2,655 | 1.35% | |
| Turnout | 196,904 | |||
Wellstone had unseated the two-term senator Boschwitz in the 1990 election. Boschwitz filed for a rematch. [3] He released ads calling Wellstone "embarrassingly liberal" and "Senator Welfare", [4] and accused Wellstone of supporting flag burning, a move some believe backfired. [5] As in 1990, Wellstone had a massive grassroots campaign that inspired college students, poor people and minorities to get involved in politics for the first time. Boschwitz significantly outspent Wellstone on campaign advertising and the race was closely contested, but Wellstone defeated Boschwitz by a nine-point margin in a three-way race. Dean Barkley received 7% of the vote [6] and was appointed by Governor Jesse Ventura to serve the last 60 days of Wellstone's term after Wellstone died in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Paul Wellstone (incumbent) | 1,098,430 | 50.32% | |
| Republican | Rudy Boschwitz | 901,194 | 41.28% | |
| Reform | Dean Barkley | 152,328 | 6.98% | |
| Grassroots | Tim Davis | 14,139 | 0.65% | |
| Libertarian | Roy Ezra Carlton | 5,428 | 0.25% | |
| Resource Party | Howard Hanson | 4,381 | 0.20% | |
| Natural Law | Steve Johnson | 4,321 | 0.20% | |
| Socialist Workers | Thomas A. Fiske | 1,554 | 0.07% | |
| Write-in | 1,130 | 0.05% | ||
| Total votes | 2,182,905 | 100.00% | ||
| Democratic (DFL) hold | ||||
Paul David Wellstone was an American academic, author, and politician who represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1991 until he was killed in a plane crash near Eveleth, Minnesota, in 2002. A member of the Democratic Party (DFL), Wellstone was a leader of the populist and progressive wings of the party.
Dean Malcolm Barkley is an American attorney and politician who briefly served as a United States Senator from Minnesota from 2002 to 2003 as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota. The founder and chair of the Minnesota Reform Party, he was the chairman of Jesse Ventura's successful upset bid for governor of Minnesota in 1998. Ventura subsequently appointed him director of the state's Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning. After Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash just weeks before the 2002 election, Ventura appointed Barkley to fill Wellstone's Senate seat. His brief tenure ended when Republican Norm Coleman was elected and sworn in to fill the seat.
Rudolph Ely “Rudy” Boschwitz is an American politician and businessman who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 1978 until 1991. Boschwitz is a member of the Republican Party.
The 2002 United States Senate elections featured a series of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. The Senate seats up for election, known as class 2 Senate seats, were last up for regular election in 1996. The election cycle was held on November 5, 2002, almost fourteen months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The 1996 United States Senate elections were held on November 5, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. They coincided with the presidential election of the same year, in which Democrat Bill Clinton was re-elected president.
The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election cycle took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress. Until 2022, this had been the only election cycle where only one U.S. Senate seat flipped parties.
The 1984 United States Senate elections were held on November 6, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. They coincided with the landslide re-election of President Ronald Reagan in the presidential election. In spite of the lopsided presidential race, Reagan's Republican Party suffered a net loss of two Senate seats to the Democrats, although it retained control of the Senate with a reduced 53–47 majority. Democrats defeated incumbents in Illinois and Iowa, and won an open seat in Tennessee, while Republicans defeated an incumbent in Kentucky.
The 1978 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies.
The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. It took place on November 3, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These races occurred in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as president. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected as an independent.
The 1968 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 5, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. They coincided with the presidential election of the same year. The Republicans picked up five net seats in the Senate. This saw Republicans win a Senate seat in Florida for the first time since Reconstruction.
The 1964 United States Senate elections were held on November 3. The 33 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. They coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2023, this was the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, propose constitutional amendments, or convict and expel certain officials without any votes from Senate Republicans. However, internal divisions would have prevented the Democrats from having done so. The Senate election cycle coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.
The 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 5, 2002. Incumbent Senator Paul Wellstone was running for a third term but died in a plane crash eleven days before the election. The Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) quickly chose former Vice President and 1984 presidential nominee Walter Mondale to replace Wellstone on the ballot. Mondale had previously held the seat from 1964 to 1976, resigning to assume the vice presidency. He narrowly lost to Republican Norm Coleman, the former mayor of Saint Paul. The day before the election, Governor Jesse Ventura appointed the 1996 Independence Party candidate, Dean Barkley, to serve the remainder of Wellstone's term.
The 1990 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Independent-Republican Party State Auditor and challenger Arne Carlson defeated then Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party Governor Rudy Perpich, who had defeated Mike Hatch for the Democratic nomination. This remains the last gubernatorial election in Minnesota to date in which an incumbent governor ran for reelection to a third term.
Jon Rieder Grunseth is a Minnesota businessman and politician. He was the 1990 Independent-Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. Grunseth won his party's endorsement and its primary election, but was forced to quit the race nine days before election day in the wake of a scandal. Until the 1990 governor's race, Grunseth had been the Vice President of Public Affairs at Ecolab, and chair of the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association. After the scandal, he lost his job at Ecolab, and he now lives and runs a cherry-growing operation in Australia.
The Independence—Alliance Party, a merger of the Alliance Party and the Independence Party, formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was the party of former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura when he left the Reform Party.
The 1992 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Bob Kasten ran for re-election to a third term but was defeated by Democrat Russ Feingold.
The 1990 United States elections were held on November 6 and elected the members of the 102nd United States Congress. The elections occurred in the middle of Republican President George H. W. Bush's term and during the Gulf War. The Democratic Party slightly built on their control of Congress.
The 1990 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz was defeated by Democratic challenger Paul Wellstone in a tight race. Widely considered an underdog and outspent by a 7-to-1 margin, Wellstone was the only candidate to defeat an incumbent senator as well as the only candidate to flip a seat in the 1990 election cycle and gained national attention after his upset victory. The race was also notable as the first in the history of the U.S. Senate where both major-party candidates were Jewish.
The 1984 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz defeated Democratic challenger Joan Growe.
The 1978 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Wendell Anderson was defeated by Republican challenger Rudy Boschwitz.
