Minnesota politics have had a long and interesting history. This state, located in the Midwest, has seen its fair share of political battles and heated discussions over the years. The politics in Minnesota state are dominated by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). This party is known for its progressive policies and values that focus on economic, environmental, and social justice. It also works towards protecting healthcare access for all Minnesotans. In recent years, DFL candidates have won most of the major statewide elections. Currently, Governor Tim Walz leads the Minnesota government along with DFL majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. This has given them control to enact progressive legislation such as raising minimum wage, fighting climate change, and passing laws to protect LGBTQ rights. Other parties like Republican Party of Minnesota also play an important role in local politics by ensuring accountability from elected officials during election cycles. While not always successful at winning major races, they still serve an important role in holding those in power accountable to their constituents' needs and voices.
The political climate in Minnesota is leaning liberal.
In Minnesota 52.4% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 45.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Minnesota remained moderately Democratic, 52.4% to 45.3%.
Minnesota voted Democratic in the previous six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Minnesota is leaning liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Minnesota, Minnesota: d d D d d d
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Minnesota
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 315,062 contributions totaling $40,613,720 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 60,492 contributions totaling $28,685,597 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $474 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)