The 2016 Minnesota House of Representatives election was held in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

on November 8, 2016, to elect members to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

of the 90th Minnesota Legislature. A primary election was held in several districts on August 9, 2016. The election coincided with the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

of the other house of the

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, the Senate. The

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the oldest active political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The Minnesota Republican Party’s platform is relatively moderate. The party’s main issues are economic growth, education, healthcare, civi ...

won a majority of seats, remaining the majority party, followed by the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Repr ...

(DFL). The new Legislature convened on January 3, 2017.

Background

The last election resulted in the

winning a majority of seats, after losing a majority to the

(DFL) only two years earlier in the previous election. This resulted in split control of the Legislature for the first time since 2006, ending eight years of unified control by either the DFL or the Republicans as well as ending two years of all-DFL control of the Legislature and governorship.

Electoral system

The 134 members of the House of Representatives were elected from single-member districts via

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

for 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 Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidates were nominated by petition.

Write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s must have filed a request with the secretary of state's office for votes for them to have been counted.

Retiring members

Republican

* Mark Anderson, 9A *

Dave Hancock David Graeme Hancock (born August 10, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer and was the 15th premier of Alberta in 2014. Since 2017, he has served as a judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta. From 1997 to 2014, he was a Member of the Legislative As ...

, 2A *

Tim Kelly Tim or Timothy Kelly may refer to: * Tim Kelly (Alaska politician) (1944–2009), Alaska state legislator * Tim Kelly (Minnesota politician) (born 1964), Minnesota politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives * Tim Kelly (Mich ...

, 21A *

Tara Mack Tara Kay Mack (née Tara Klongerbo; born June 26, 1983) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, she represented District 57A, which included portions o ...

, 57A *

Denny McNamara Dennis M. "Denny" McNamara (born September 29, 1952) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party of Minnesota, he represented District 54B, which included portions of D ...

, 54B * Tim Sanders, 37B

DFL

Joe Atkins Joseph Atkins (born October 6, 1965) is a Minnesota attorney and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 52B, which included portions of ...

, 52B * Jason Isaacson, 42B * Carolyn Laine, 41B * Carly Melin, 6A *

Jerry Newton Jerry Newton was the older brother of Wayne Newton. He and Wayne performed as the Rascals in Rhythm in Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas as children, as well as later on ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' and ''Ozark Jubilee''. In the 1966 ''Bonanza'' episode ...

, 37A * Kim Norton, 25B *

Dan Schoen Dan Schoen (born December 7, 1974) is an American politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 54 in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan are ...

, 54A *

Yvonne Selcer Yvonne M. Selcer (born March 3, 1953) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 48A, which included Hennepin C ...

, 48A * Erik Simonson, 7B

Competitive districts

According to ''

MinnPost ''MinnPost'' is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news. Funding ''MinnPosts initial funding of $850,000 came from four families: John and Sage Cowles, Lee Lynch and Terry Saario, Joel and ...

'', the '' Star Tribune'', the ''

Pioneer Press The Pioneer Press publishes 32 local newspapers in the Chicago area. It is a division of Tribune Publishing, and is based in Chicago. The community newspapers are the main source of local news in Illinois communities such as Winnetka, Highland ...

'', and ''

MPR News Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

'', a total of 25 districts were competitive. ''MinnPost'' considered 17 districts to be competitive—12 of which were held by the Republicans and five by the DFL, the ''Star Tribune'' 22—16 of which were held by the Republicans and six by the DFL, the ''Pioneer Press'' eight—seven of which were held by the Republicans and one by the DFL, and ''MPR News'' 14—11 of which were held by the Republicans and three by the DFL. : : : :

Primary elections results

Opinion polling

Results

Districts won.

District results

: : : : :''The following sought election but later withdrew.''

Seats changing parties

Seat gains and holds by party. : : :

Notes

References

External links

Elections & Voting - Minnesota Secretary of State
{{2016 United States elections 2016 Minnesota elections Minnesota House of Representatives elections

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. There are 134 members, twice as many as the Minnesota Senate. Floor sessions are held in the north wing of the State Capitol in Saint ...