Historically Politically Progressive
| Year | Republican | Democratic |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 46.1% 1,321,575 | 52.8% 1,547,688 |
| 2008 | 44.77% 1,275,400 | 55.22% 1,573,323 |
| 2004 | 47.59% 1,346,695 | 51.13% 1,445,014 |
| 2000 | 45.50% 1,109,659 | 47.91% 1,168,266 |
| 1996 | 35.64% 766,476 | 51.11% 1,120,438 |
| 1992 | 31.90% 747,841 | 43.50% 1,020,997 |
| 1988 | 46.01% 962,337 | 53.01% 1,109,471 |
| 1984 | 49.44% 1,032,602 | 49.78% 1,036,364 |
| 1980 | 42.60% 872,268 | 46.50% 945,173 |
Minnesotans have voted for Democratic presidential candidates ever since 1976, more times consecutively than any other state outside of the south. Minnesota and the District of Columbia were the only electoral votes not won by incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Minnesota voters instead chose former Vice President and Senator Walter Mondale, a Minnesota native. Mondale or Hubert Humphrey were on the Democratic ticket as candidates for President or Vice President in the 1964, 1968, 1976, 1980, and 1984 elections.
In recent years presidential campaigns have viewed the 27 electoral college votes from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa as a block that is subject to swing toward either major party, and equal in value to Florida's 27 electoral votes. This analysis resulted in dozens of visits by candidates in the final months of both the 2000 and 2004 campaigns. However, in the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama won the state by more than 10 percentage points.
In the 108th and 109th congresses, Minnesota's congressional delegation was split with 4 Democratic and 4 Republican members of congress and the state's senate seats have also generally been split since the early 1990s. (See United States Congressional Delegations from Minnesota.)
In the 2006 mid-term election, Democrats were elected to all state offices except for governor and lieutenant governor, where Republicans Tim Pawlenty and Carol Molnau narrowly won reelection. The DFL also posted double-digit gains in both houses of the legislature, elected DFLer Amy Klobuchar to the U.S. Senate, and increased the Democratic U.S. House caucus by one, Tim Walz (MN-01).
However, in the 2010 mid-terms, the 8th district, a democratic stronghold for decades in the Iron Range, elected Republican Chip Cravaack over long-time incumbent Jim Oberstar, splitting the delegation again, 4 to 4. Republicans also captured both houses of the Minnesota Legislature for the first time in decades. However, Democratic candidate Mark Dayton won control of the governorship, making all of Minnesota's statewide elected officials Democrats.
In the 2012 election, Democrat Rick Nolan recaptured Oberstar's seat and majorities in both chambers of the Minnesota legislature.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Minnesota
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