The 2016 Minnesota Senate 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 Senate of the 90th and

91st Minnesota Legislature The Ninety-first Minnesota Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota from January 8, 2019 to January 4, 2021. It is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, based on the results of the 2016 Senate election and 2 ...

s. 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

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 ...

. 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, defeating the majority of 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). This was the first election for the DFL since it won a majority of seats in the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, after losing a majority to the Republicans in the 2010 election. The new Legislature convened on January 3, 2017.

Background

The last election resulted in the

(DFL) winning a majority of seats, after losing a majority to the

only two years earlier in the previous election. This resulted in the Republicans losing the only majority they have had since the return of partisan elections to the Senate in 1976. In conjunction with the result of the House election, it also resulted in the return of all-DFL control of the Legislature since 2010 as well as the return of all-party and all-DFL control of the Legislature and governorship since 1990, which ended with the

of a Republican majority to the House in 2014.

Electoral system

The 67 members of the Senate 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 four-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

DFL

Terri Bonoff Terri E. Bonoff (born August 1, 1957) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Minnesota. She is a former member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 44, which included portions of Minnetonka, Plymouth and Woodland in Hennepin ...

, 44th *

Barb Goodwin Barbara J. Goodwin (born January 25, 1949) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 41, which included portions of Anoka, H ...

, 41st * Alice Johnson, 37th * Jim Metzen, 52nd ** Died of lung cancer on July 11, 2016. *

Roger Reinert Roger Jonathon Reinert (born July 22, 1970) is an American politician, mayor of Duluth, Minnesota, and member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). He served in the Minnesota House from 2009 to 2011 and the Minnesota Senate ...

, 7th * Bev Scalze, 42nd *

Kathy Sheran Kathleen J. "Kathy" Sheran (born May 18, 1947) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 19, which included portions of Blue E ...

, 19th *

Katie Sieben Katie Sieben (born March 23, 1977) is an American politician who served as a member of the Minnesota Senate from 2007 to 2017. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented the 54th, which included portions of ...

, 54th * LeRoy Stumpf, 1st

Republican

* Dave Brown, 15th * Julianne Ortman, 47th * John Pederson, 14th * Dave Thompson, 58th

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 19 districts were competitive. ''MinnPost'' considered 12 districts to be competitive—10 of which were held by the DFL and two by the Republicans, the ''Star Tribune'' 19—13 of which were held by the DFL and six by the Republicans, the ''Pioneer Press'' six—five of which were held by the DFL and one by the Republicans, and ''MPR News'' nine—seven of which were held by the DFL and two by the Republicans. : : : :

Primary elections results

Opinion polling

Results

2016 Minnesota Senate seats won by party

District results

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

Seats changing parties

: : :

Notes

References

External links

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

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are h ...