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Republican Rep. Pete Stauber won a fifth term representing Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, defeating Democrat Trina Swanson 53 percent to 47 percent in his closest race since first winning the seat in 2018. Stauber, a strong advocate for northeastern Minnesota’s mining industry, continues to hold a district that has shifted from a longtime Democratic stronghold to reliably Republican territory in recent years.
Republican Rep. Pete Stauber has won reelection in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional district, defeating Democratic challenger Trina Swanson by a 53 to 47 percent margin.
It will be Stauber’s fifth term in Congress. The former professional hockey player, Duluth police officer and St. Louis County Commissioner first was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.
The vast district stretches from the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities along the North Shore of Lake Superior and west past International Falls along the Canadian border. It includes Duluth, Brainerd, Bemidji and the Iron Range, as well as all seven of the state’s Ojibwe nations.
The district once voted reliably Democratic, buoyed by union strongholds in Duluth and the Range, but has swung hard to the right since President Donald Trump’s first election in 2016.
Stauber has won the race comfortably in recent elections. This year was the closest margin of victory since his first election. In 2024 Stauber defeated challenger Jen Schultz by 16 points.
Swanson was a longtime federal employee of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services where she rose to director of international operations. The Hermantown native left her post last year over disagreement with the administration’s immigration policies.
Stauber has been a vocal proponent of the mining industry in northeast Minnesota. Earlier this year he introduced a resolution that overturned a moratorium on copper-nickel mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
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