2025 Minnesota Election Update

Minneapolis and St. Paul Elections In St. Paul, the Mayor’s race turned out to be the surprise of the evening. Incumbent Mayor Carter was running for a third term and was expected to win. However, a late entrant into the race, current legislator Kaohly Her emerged victorious with 47.76% of the vote. St. Paul has ranked-choice voting, so despite

Mayor Carter holding a slight lead in the first round, the transfer votes in the final round were enough to push Kaohly Her to the win. This creates an all female leadership for the City of St. Paul with Her joins the previously elected all female City Council in January 2026. Mayor Frey is elected to a 3rd term. Minneapolis also uses ranked-choice voting, after round one, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was in the lead over his closest challenger Omar Fateh. Following the second round of tabulations, Frey reached the threshold of 50% and won the election.

The Minneapolis City Council was also up for election. Two seats switched from progressive to more moderate. The Mayor now has a council that cannot override his veto. Something he has not had with the past council.

St. Paul Mayor’s Race Result:

Minneapolis Mayor’s Race Result:

Special Elections

There were two special elections for the legislature on the ballot. Given the one vote DFL majority in the Senate, these special elections would decide the majority party control of the Senate. At risk were MN Senate District 47 previously held by Nicole Mitchell (DFL – Woodbury) and Senate District 29 previously held by Bruce Anderson (R – Buffalo) who passed away unexpectedly. In both cases the vote was along the existing party control. In District 47, Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger won with 61.69% of the vote and the GOP held seat in the Buffalo area, Michael Holmstrom Jr. won with 62.23%. Both districts increased their percentages of votes for democrats and the DFL will try to replicate this in the 2026 general election to maintain the majority in the Senate and retake a majority in the House.

Hemmingson-Jaeger’s win and the Mayoral races will require additional special elections prior to the February start of the 2026 Legislative Session.

Senate District 47 Result:

Senate District 29 Result: 

Governor’s Race 2026

The 2026 gubernatorial race in Minnesota is already heating up, with incumbent Governor Walz announcing his intention to seek a rare 3rd term as Governor. No other democrat has challenged him yet in the race.

Several prominent Republican figures are battling for the party’s nomination to be the candidate chosen to run against Walz. Among them are Scott Jensen, the 2022 GOP nominee who announced his second run for governor and has signaled he intends to run in a primary regardless of convention endorsement. Also in the field are Kendall Qualls, an Army veteran and former healthcare executive whose early announcement gives him a toehold in the contest. Kristin Robbins, a state representative from Maple Grove, joined the race with a focus on fraud-prevention, taxes and schools. In addition, Lisa Demuth, Speaker of the House, also entered the race, bringing insider legislative experience and further crowding the GOP field. Don’t be surprised if the field gets more crowded, potentially with other sitting legislators!

In short: the Republican party faithful are not united behind a single candidate yet, and that intraparty jockeying comes at a moment when the legislature itself is barely able to pass bipartisan bills. The combination of an internally contested GOP nomination and a sharply divided legislature sets up a scenario where lawmaking is poised to slow further — even before the next election cycle is fully underway.

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