After the election: Looking at results
MPR News' full coverage of the 2018 midterm elections, including the latest breaking news, analysis and results.
-
Live: Follow MPR News on Facebook for live video from political editor Mike Mulcahy and reporter Briana Bierschbach. We'll broadcast updates throughout the night.
-
Ham to the left, voting to the right
Here's a scene report from Virginia, Minnesota from our freelance photographer Derek Montgomery: It was ham or voting for visitors to Miners Memorial Building in Virginia this afternoon. -
Top issues for voters: Health care, immigration
According to the Guardian, AP election-time polling is showing healthcare and immigration are top issues for voters.What about Minnesota voters? In the September MPR News | StarTribune Minnesota Poll, we found that those issues -- along with “the economy & jobs” – are also top-of-mind for Minnesotans in this election. Health care was the top motivating issue for DFL-leaning voters, while immigration led (slightly) among Republican-leaning voters
Health care, the economy, immigration, and Russian collusion are top-of-mind for Minnesota voters -Craig Helmstetter, APM Research Lab -
7:30 p.m. poll closure: Arkansas
Just one state closes this half hour. Democrats had been looking at contesting a House race here, but that's faded from the list of truly competitive takeovers in the final weeks. But more results will be trickling in to track from the 8 p.m. hour.—NPR
-
Record number of women running for Congress, including 10 in Minnesota
If nothing else, the midterm elections will likely bring a Congress that's more representative of the country it represents.It's because of all the women running for public office.About 48 percent of the 435 U.S. House races have a woman on the ballot running with a major party, according to analysis from the APM Research Lab, MPR News' sister company.
"Nationally, it is an unprecedented year for women running," said Andi Egbert, senior research associate. "This is mostly driven by a surge in Democratic women running this year."The Democrats have three and a half times the number of female candidates Republicans have on the ticket in House races, according to Egbert.There are also a record number of transgender people running for public offices across the country, Reuters reports.Right now, men dominate Congress — they make up about 80 percent of the U.S. House.—Cody Nelson, MPR News -
Dems pick up 2 House seats; voters test Trump strength
WASHINGTON (AP) — Votes were being counted across half the country Tuesday night as an anxious nation watched whether President Donald Trump's GOP would be rewarded or rejected in the first nationwide election of his turbulent presidency.
Fundraising, polls and history were not on the president's side in a fight for control of Congress and statehouses across the nation. But two years after an election that proved polls and prognosticators wrong, most of the nation's most competitive elections were too close to call.
Democrats seized early victories in contested House races in Florida and also in Virginia, where political newcomer Jennifer Wexton defeated two-term GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock.The Republican incumbent had been branded Barbara "Trumpstock" by Democrats in a race that pointed to Trump's unpopularity among college-educated women in the suburbs.
And in south Florida, former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala fended off a stiff challenge from Republican Maria Elvira Salazar. -
Why, again, are Minnesota's congressional races in the national spotlight?
This graph says it all. Or almost all:
The 3rd went for Clinton, and is held by Republican Erik Paulsen, who was trailing, then tied with Democrat Dean Phillips in the polls leading up to the election.
- The 1st, 7th, and 8th all went for Trump, but are currently held by DFLers.
- The 2nd was razor thin, and polls showed incumbent Republican Jason Lewis trailing in very close rematch with DFLer Angie Craig.
Minnesota: Presidential voting patterns by congressional district (See this and more here: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/10/31/maps-minnesota-voting-population)-Craig Helmstetter, APM Research Lab -
8 p.m. poll closures: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Just as those big 8 p.m. results become better known and the earlier close races will be decided, here comes another deluge of results. There are almost two dozen House races to watch in this hour across more than a dozen states. There are also Senate races in Texas and Arizona, two big Democratic targets, which will almost certainly be determinative of who controls the Senate.
Get ready for quick results from Texas, where most of the polls will have closed at 8 p.m., but final calls won't be made until 9 p.m. ET when polls close in El Paso. Democrats are bracing for a loss in North Dakota with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp as the most vulnerable incumbent. The open Arizona race is a toss-up, but Republicans are increasingly worried, given Trump's closing focus on immigration, that the seat which has been in GOP hands could be won by Democrats.
There are several Democratic House targets, too, especially in New York and Michigan, but Republicans could pick up two Democratic-held seats in rural Minnesota. In governors' races, Democrats have surprising opportunities in open seat contests in Kansas and South Dakota. Democrats are likely to flip the governor's mansion in Michigan, and are hoping to finally oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, but that race is another true toss-up.
—NPR -
LIVE Election Results from MPR News
See up-to-the-minute election results as they roll in. -
Klobuchar’s coattails
Klobuchar is very well-liked in Minnesota, and that may benefit other DFL candidates.As we reported after looking closely at the MPR News | Star Tribune Minnesota Poll this fall:"Klobuchar’s 57 percent favorability rating exceeded all other office-holders and candidates in the survey by 20 or more percentage points, including:- Governor Mark Dayton (37%)
- U.S. Representative and gubernatorial candidate Tim Walz (37%)
- U.S. Senator Tina Smith (32%)
- President Trump (31%)
- Hennepin County Commissioner and gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson (26%), and
- U.S. Representative and Attorney General candidate Keith Ellison (20%).
Klobuchar appeals even to some of the state’s Republican voters: 14 percent rated her as favorable and less than half rated her as unfavorable. Besides Republicans, Klobuchar received favorable ratings from at least 47 percent of all groups of likely voters represented in the poll, including a notably conservative subgroup: men age 50 or older."-Craig Helmstetter, APM Research Lab -
On the air: "I'll be looking at the early returns. I'll be looking at the third and second district. I think that will give us an idea on if this is a referendum on Trump." Maureen Shaver @shavermoCatch the analysis on the 📻 or online at mprnews.org/listen
-
On the air: "The first things I'll be looking at, is if Jeff Johnson and Karin Housley can approach the numbers that Donald Trump put up in some out-state counties in 2016. I'll also be watching the 3rd Congressional pretty closely because Erik Paulsen has struggled and I'll want to see if his struggles extend to the legislative races in that area." Todd Rapp @toddrapp
Catch the analysis on the 📻 or online at mprnews.org/listen -
On the air: "90% of the vote so far has come in from Hennepin County. Pretty much equally distributed between the 3rd and the 5th. It looks like a substantial portion of the precincts that Erik Paulsen (3rd District) would expect to do well in, are already in." ~Todd Rapp @toddrappCatch the analysis on the 📻 or online at mprnews.org/listen