Today, at an online meeting rehashing the 2020 election, a disgruntled defeated candidate tried to explain his disappointment. He stated that Republicans positioned a candidate from the legalize marijuana faction to drain off his vote totals, and that outside groups spent $400,000 to defeat him.
This is too simple of an explanation. Because this candidate is probably as worthy to represent his district as the Republican who beat him, I am hoping he does a more sober analysis and comes back for more.
The fact is that outside groups spent heavily on many races both to promote one candidate and defeat another. State Senator Karin Housley, who won reelection by more than 3,500 votes, claimed outside groups had spent $1 million or more to defeat her.
Spending by outside groups goes both ways.
As for the marijuana candidates, we can blow that theory up in smoke easily. The candidate who blamed the GOP for running a marijuana party candidate against him? He lost by 4,500 vote and the pot-guy only had 2,900. And who’s to really know whether “high” voters prefer Republicans over Democrats?
What is surely to be true in nearly all Minnesota elections are two factors: demographics and Get Out the Vote. Districts like my old one, SD67, are overwhelmingly DFL and my favorite candidate, Alex Deputie, received only 26% of the vote. District 67A, overwhelmingly DFL, elected John Thompson, the man who made terroristic threats in front of the Hugo home of Police Lt. Bob Kroll.
As for Congressional races, the only real surprise is how close CD 2 turned out, with Angie Craig winning with a 9,300 vote margin over surprising Tyler Kistner. One presumes Kistner will be back after reapportionment.
As for the Presidential race, my advice is to avoid almost every analysis you hear until the dust settles – maybe by 2023.
