1977 Minnesota's 7th Congressional District Special Election
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The 1977 United States House of Representatives special election in Minnesota's 7th congressional district was held on February 22, 1977 to select the successor to Bob Bergland (DFL) who resigned to accept appointment as
Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...
under the
Carter Administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican President ...
. Independent-Republican candidate
Arlan Stangeland Arlan Inghart Stangeland (February 8, 1930 – July 2, 2013) was an Politics of the United States, American politician from Minnesota. As a Republican Party (United States), Republican, Stangeland served in the United States House of Representati ...
defeated the DFL favorite, Mike Sullivan, in an upset landslide.


Race description

On January 22, 1977, Bob Bergland, who had served as the United States representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district since 1971, resigned in order to accept appointment by President Jimmy Carter as
Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...
. All indications prior to the special election seemed to favor the odds that the DFL would hold the district. Bergland won the district in successive landslide victories since its reapportionment following the 1970 census, winning nearly sixty percent of the vote in 1972, over 75 percent in 1974, and 72.34 percent in 1976. The DFL and the Independent-Republican Party each held special primary elections on February 8. Mike Sullivan, a former staffer for Representative Bergland and former-U.S. Senator/then-Vice President Walter Mondale, defeated former-U.S. Representative
Coya Knutson Cornelia Genevive Gjesdal "Coya" Knutson (née Gjesdal; August 22, 1912 – October 10, 1996) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Minnesota. She served two terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives, from 1951 to 1955, befo ...
and two other candidates for the DFL nomination.
Arlan Stangeland Arlan Inghart Stangeland (February 8, 1930 – July 2, 2013) was an Politics of the United States, American politician from Minnesota. As a Republican Party (United States), Republican, Stangeland served in the United States House of Representati ...
, a farmer who was a delegate to the Republican State conventions from 1964 to 1968, and served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1966 to 1975, easily won the Independent-Republican nomination over Dick Franson, a perennial candidate who had run in various Republican primaries in Minnesota. During the special election campaign, Stangeland campaigned "on the theme that the heavily rural northwestern Minnesota needed another farmer, like Mr. Bergland, in Congress,""Minnesotans voting today on Bergland's House seat." Associated Press: 8 February 1977. and likely benefited from "his lifelong residence in the district, his roots as a farmer in a mostly rural area, and his identification as a Lutheran in an area that is predominantly Protestant."Naughton, James M. "Minnesota victory elates Republicans." ''New York Times'': 24 February 1977. Sullivan, on the other hand, had relied on the support of establishment Democrats rather than making a grassroots outreach to the voters of the district, and was likely "handicapped by his Roman Catholic faith." Sullivan's religious affiliation particularly became a matter of controversy after bishop
Victor Hermann Balke Victor Herman Balke (September 29, 1931) is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Crookston in Minnesota from 1976 to 2007. Biography Early life Born on September 29, 1931, in Meppen, Illinois (in ...
encouraged voters in the
Diocese of Crookston The Diocese of Crookston ( la, Diœcesis Crookstoniensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that covers the northwest section of the state of Minnesota in the United States of America. The Diocese of Cro ...
to vote for Sullivan, whom he described as "very pro-church," and against Stangeland, whom he described as having a "very negative" voting record in the state house. In the end, Stangeland won the election with a landslide 71,251 votes to Sullivan's 43,467, taking the DFL and most outside observers, who expected that Bergland's broad support from three months earlier would translate into an easy victory for Sullivan, by surprise.


Democratic–Farmer–Labor primary


Candidates


Declared

* F. E. "Fritz" Anderson * Bill Kjeldahl * Coya Gjesdal Knutson, former United States Representative from
Minnesota's 9th congressional district Minnesota's 9th congressional district is a now-obsolete district for representation in the United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. Ho ...
(1955–1959); first woman elected to Congress from Minnesota * Mike Sullivan, former staffer for Representative Bob Bergland and Senator Walter Mondale


Results


Independent-Republican primary


Candidates


Declared

* Richard "Dick" Franson, perennial candidate in various Republican primary elections throughout Minnesota *
Arlan Stangeland Arlan Inghart Stangeland (February 8, 1930 – July 2, 2013) was an Politics of the United States, American politician from Minnesota. As a Republican Party (United States), Republican, Stangeland served in the United States House of Representati ...
, former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives (1966–1975)


Results


Special election


Results


See also

* List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives


References

{{Minnesota elections Minnesota 1977 07 Minnesota 1977 07 1977 07 Special Minnesota 07 Special United States House of Representatives 07 Special United States House of Representatives 1977 07