A large and confident crowd at the Minnesota Republican election party Tuesday night was greeted with disappointment after Joe Biden won Minnesota, dashing President Donald Trump’s hopes of becoming the first Republican to carry the state since Richard Nixon in 1972.
Although Trump visited the state multiple times in the final months of his campaign, the push wasn’t enough to earn Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes, and according to U.S. Representative candidate for Minnesota’s 3rd District of the U.S. House Kendall Qualls, Trump constrained his nomination.
“Unfortunately, in this particular district, the president’s reputation is not as likable,” Qualls said.
Qualls conceded the 3rd District race early in the night to incumbent Dean Phillips and addressed the 450 candidates, donors and media members who filled the GOP election party at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington.
“Trust me, I don’t consider this a failure, not one bit,” Qualls said to a cheering crowd. “It’s never called failure unless you don’t get up and fight again.”
In addition to Trump’s unfavorable district-wide reputation, Qualls said many other factors prevented him from winning.
“I had no name, no recognition and we’re campaigning in the middle of a pandemic,” Qualls said. “So we weren’t able to get to everyone we wanted to, that’s fine. But we know our message resonates.”
After Qualls addressed the crowd, party member Erik Radtke expressed his pride for Qualls.
“He’s an incredible American. If I get to be half the father Kendall Qualls ever was, I’d be honored,” Radtke said.
The party also suffered a major loss after U.S. Senate candidate Jason Lewis lost with 43% of the vote to incumbent Tina Smith, who won with 49% of the vote overall.
U.S. Representative candidate for Minnesota’s 2nd district of the U.S. House Tyler Kissner lost to incumbent Angie Craig. However, the Secretary of State website noted that results will not be official until Nov. 10 due to a court order ruling that ballots would be accepted after Election Day.
Republicans gained hope after Minnesota House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt defeated Democratic candidate Brad Brown by over 10,000 votes in the race for District 31A.
“Democrats have taken a path which I don’t even recognize,” Daudt said. “It’s just bizarre.”
Radtke believes the future will be bright for conservatives in two years.
“In 2022 there will be no U.S. Senator, no President and it will be only the Governor at the top of the ticket— it’s called a 12th year election— and so we will be able to see a lot of doors open for conservative candidates winning in Minnesota,” Radtke said.
Burke Spizale can be reached at spiz8477@stthomas.edu.
Joey Swanson can be reached at swan5350@stthomas.edu.
Emily Haugen can be reached at haug7231@stthomas.edu.