Quick Read
DFLers have held a lock on statewide offices in Minnesota since 2011. Republicans saw an opportunity heading into this election to loosen that grip.
DFLers again swept the races for Minnesota’s constitutional officers with election wins on Tuesday Attorney General Keith Ellison and Secretary of State Steve Simon won reelection, and Zack Filipovich won the open seat for state auditor.
While he won 54 percent of the vote Tuesday, Ellison’s race seemed tight at times. It attracted millions of dollars of TV attack ads and his allies responded with harsh critiques of Republican challenger Ron Schutz in a campaign year that also saw other intense downballot races.
Ellison swiped at President Donald Trump in declaring victory.
“Minnesotans rejected Trump’s politics of cruelty, division, and hate. Minnesotans stood up for one another, even in the face of Trump’s threats, his attacks on our state, and his invasion of armed, masked ICE agents,” Ellison said. “Trump tried to break Minnesota’s spirit, our courage, and our compassion, and he failed.”
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All three offices have been held by Democrats for years. Minnesota hasn’t had a Republican secretary of state or state auditor since 2007. The last Republican attorney general left office in 1971.
The Ellison-Schutz race was one both parties poured in enormous effort and money.
Ellison, a DFLer who won two previous races by small margins, braced for a tough campaign to hold onto the office for a third term. Schutz, a Twin Cities litigator with deep connections, put Ellison on the defensive over fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs.
Ellison branded Schutz as a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump’s administration. Through mid-October, outside groups had spent more than $12 million in the race. More six-figure infusions for ads and other voter persuasion efforts have been deployed on both sides since then.
Secretary of state race
Secretary of State Steve Simon won a fourth term in office, getting 55 percent of the vote. He’s served as the state’s chief election administrator as the Trump administration renewed attention on Minnesota’s elections.
His Republican challenger Tad Jude, a former legislator and ex-judge, argued Simon had politicized the office. Two minor party candidates were also on the ballot: Libertarian Chip Tangen and the Green Party’s Seth Kuhl-Stennes.
State auditor
For auditor, the contest was between DFLer Zach Filipovich and Republican Scott Jensen. Filipovich is an accountant and former Duluth City Council member. Jensen, a physician, originally announced he would run again for Minnesota governor before shifting course.
A third party candidate, the Forward Independence Party’s Jay Reeves, offered voters another option.
Both the state auditor’s race and attorney general’s race were among the narrowest victories for statewide office in the 2022 midterms. Both Ellison and current State Auditor Julie Blaha, who did not seek reelection this year, beat their Republican opponents by less than one percentage point.
