Today we’re focusing on the downstream ramifications of Tuesday’s election.
The election results in the race between Republican U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad and Democrat Jake Johnson are close enough — 323 votes — to allow for the presumptive loser to request a recount. Johnson is in the lead by a tenth of a percent, but Finstad has not conceded. The Canvassing Board that certifies the election results doesn’t meet for more than two weeks, but if there is a recount, this is how it could play out.
With Sen. Amy Klobuchar departing that august body for the governor’s mansion, Minnesota will need a new senator to take her place in Washington. There are a couple scenarios for how that could play out between her and exiting governor Tim Walz. The short list of contenders for the spot is something like: Rep. Angie Craig, Rep. Kelly Morrison or Secretary of State Steve Simon. Picking any of them would also create consequences.
Data centers and the issues surrounding them have been roiling communities in Minnesota this year from Pine Island to Hermantown to the North Loop in Minneapolis, but it’s possible that the blue wave could put a stop or at least a hold on all that here and across the country.
“For tech investors, the big focus is will these midterm elections slow the pace of the planned 800 to 1,000 data centers across the U.S. fueling the AI Revolution,” Yorkville Ives & Co. technology analyst Dan Ives said in a report. “The answer in our view is a clear YES.”
Just how big was the blue wave in Minnesota? Although there were bigger shifts in terms of raw numbers, results like Winona County going from +5 for Trump in 2024 to +4 for Flanagan on Tuesday are eye-catching, and the governor results there were similar. Anoka County also shifted from +4 for Trump to +5 for Klobuchar.
Speaking of Klobuchar, her win contributed to Democrats gaining a majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years. That includes flipping Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas, and races in Alaska and Kansas have yet to be called.
You might remember Nicole Mitchell from that time when she broke into her stepmother’s house and resigned from the Minnesota Senate before being convicted of burglary. Well, she’s back in politics now after winning a seat on the Woodbury City Council.
3M took the opportunity presented by the election to announce a $7.35 billion settlement for lawsuits related to people sickened by groundwater contamination from compounds used in firefighting foam and other consumer products.
And finally in your Minnesota news roundup: In a disappointing but not entirely surprising turn of events, the Minnesota GOP refused admittance to their election watch party to two news outlets — the Sahan Journal and the Minnesota Reformer.
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