The 2016 Minnesota House of Representatives 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 so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

on November 8, 2016, to elect members to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

of the 90th Minnesota Legislature. 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 whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

of the other house of the

Legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The

Republican Party of Minnesota The Republican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Minnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, E ...

won a majority of seats, remaining the majority party, followed by the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota affiliated with the national Democratic Party. The party was formed by a merger between the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Minneso ...

(DFL). The new Legislature convened on January 3, 2017.

Background

The last election resulted in the

winning a majority of seats, after losing a majority to the

(DFL) only two years earlier in the previous election. This resulted in split control of the Legislature for the first time since 2006, ending eight years of unified control by either the DFL or the Republicans as well as ending two years of all-DFL control of the Legislature and governorship.

Electoral system

The 134 members of the House of Representatives were elected from

single-member district A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

s via

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

for two-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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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

Republican

* Mark Anderson, 9A *

Dave Hancock David Graeme Hancock (born August 10, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer and was the 15th premier of Alberta in 2014. Since 2017, he has served as a judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta. From 1997 to 2014, he was a Member of the Legislative Ass ...

, 2A * Tim Kelly, 21A * Tara Mack, 57A * Denny McNamara, 54B * Tim Sanders, 37B

DFL

Joe Atkins Joseph Atkins (born October 6, 1965) is a Minnesota attorney and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 52B, which included portions of ...

, 52B *

Jason Isaacson Jason Isaacson (born May 20, 1971) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2016, after serving in the Minneso ...

, 42B *

Carolyn Laine Carolyn D. Laine (born May 22, 1946) 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 in the north-central Twin Cities metropolita ...

, 41B *

Carly Melin Carly Melin (born August 13, 1985) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 6A, which included portions of ...

, 6A * Jerry Newton, 37A * Kim Norton, 25B *

Dan Schoen Dan Schoen (born December 7, 1974) is an American politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 54 in the southeastern Twin Cities metropolitan are ...

, 54A *

Yvonne Selcer Yvonne M. Selcer (born March 3, 1953) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represented District 48A, which included Hennepin C ...

, 48A *

Erik Simonson Erik Simonson (born May 26, 1968) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 7 which includes the city of Duluth in St. Louis C ...

, 7B

Predictions

Competitive districts

According to ''

MinnPost ''MinnPost'' is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news. Content and format The site does not endorse candidates for office or publish unsigned editorials representing an institutional posit ...

'', the ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'', 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 has ...

'', a total of 25 districts were competitive. ''MinnPost'' considered 17 districts to be competitive—12 of which were held by the Republicans and five by the DFL, the ''Star Tribune'' 22—16 of which were held by the Republicans and six by the DFL, the ''Pioneer Press'' eight—seven of which were held by the Republicans and one by the DFL, and ''MPR News'' 14—11 of which were held by the Republicans and three by the DFL. : : : :

Primary elections results

Opinion polling

Results

Districts won.

District results

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

Seats changing parties

Seat gains and holds by party. : : :

Notes

References

External links

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

Minnesota House of Representatives The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the U.S. state of Minnesota's Minnesota Legislature, legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper chamber, to write and pass legislation, whic ...