2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 7, 2000, to select a U.S. senator from the state of Minnesota. Republican incumbent Rod Grams ran for a second consecutive term in office, but he was defeated by former Minnesota state auditor Mark Dayton of the DFL.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||
November 7, 2000
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
  Dayton: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Grams: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No votes | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Upon Dayton's swearing in, the Democratic Party held both of Minnesota's Senate seats for the first time since 1978.
DFL primary
- Mark Dayton, former Minnesota state auditor and nominee for Senate in 1982
- Michael V. Ciresi, attorney
- Jerry Janezich, state senator
- Rebecca Yanisch
- Richard "Dick" Franson, city councilman
- Oloveuse S. "Ole" Savior, artist and perennial candidate.
- Gregg A. Iverson
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Mark Dayton | 178,972 | 41.30 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Mike Ciresi | 96,874 | 22.35 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Jerry Janezich | 90,074 | 20.78 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Rebecca Yanisch | 63,289 | 14.60 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Richard Franson | 1,336 | 0.31 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Oloveuse S. Savior | 1,206 | 0.28 | |
| Democratic (DFL) | Gregg A. Iverson | 1,038 | 0.24 | |
| Total votes | 462,789 | 100.00 | ||
Republican primary
Candidate
- Rod Grams, incumbent U.S. Senator
- William Paul "Bill" Dahn
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rod Grams (incumbent) | 112,335 | 89.11 | |
| Republican | William Paul Dahn | 13,728 | 10.89 | |
| Total votes | 126,063 | 100.00 | ||
General election
Candidates
- David Daniels (Grassroots)
- Mark Dayton, former Minnesota state auditor and nominee for Senate in 1982 (DFL)
- Rebecca Ellis (Socialist Workers)
- James Gibson (Independence)
- Rod Grams, incumbent U.S. senator since 1995 (Republican)
- Erik Pakieser (Libertarian)
- Ole Savior, perennial candidate (Independent; write-in)
- David Swan (Constitution)
Debates
| No. | Date | Host | Moderator | Link | Republican | Democratic | Independence | Constitution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn |
||||||||
| Rod Grams | Mark Dayton | James Gibson | David Swan | |||||
| 1 | Oct. 18, 2000 | KARE-TV | Paul Majors Tim Russert |
C-SPAN | P | P | P | N |
| 2 | Oct. 26, 2000 | WCCO-TV | Don Shelby | C-SPAN | P | P | P | P |
| 3 | Nov. 3, 2000 | KTCA-TV Minnesota Citizen's Forum Star Tribune Twin Cities Public Television WCCO |
Eric Eskola Cathy Wurzer |
C-SPAN | P | P | P | N |
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (DFL) | Mark Dayton | 1,181,553 | 48.83 | +4.73 | |
| Republican | Rod Grams (incumbent) | 1,047,474 | 43.29 | −5.76 | |
| Independence | James Gibson | 140,583 | 5.81 | +0.43 | |
| Grassroots | David Daniels | 21,447 | 0.89 | −0.01 | |
| Socialist Workers | Rebecca Ellis | 12,956 | 0.54 | +0.40 | |
| Constitution | David Swan | 8,915 | 0.37 | n/a | |
| Libertarian | Erik D. Pakieser | 6,588 | 0.27 | n/a | |
| Write-in | Ole Savior | 4 | 0.00 | n/a | |
| Total votes | 2,419,520 | 100.00 | n/a | ||
| Democratic (DFL) gain from Republican | |||||
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Aitkin (largest city: Aitkin)
- Big Stone (largest city: Ortonville)
- Grant (largest city: Elbow Lake)
- Lincoln (largest city: Tyler)
- Marshall (largest city: Warren)
- Pennington (largest city: Thief River Falls)
- Pine (largest city: Pine City)
- Polk (largest city: East Grand Forks)
- Pope (largest city: Glenwood)
- Red Lake (largest city: Red Lake Falls)
- Yellow Medicine (largest city: Granite Falls)
- Beltrami (largest city: Bemidji)
- Blue Earth (largest city: Mankato)
- Chippewa (largest city: Montevideo)
- Clay (largest city: Moorhead)
- Fillmore (largest city: Spring Valley)
- Freeborn (largest city: Albert Lea)
- Itasca (largest city: Grand Rapids)
- Koochiching (largest city: International Falls)
- Lac qui Parle (largest city: Madison)
- Mahnomen (largest city: Mahnomen)
- Nicollet (largest city: North Mankato)
- Rice (largest city: Faribault)
- Swift (largest city: Benson)
- Traverse (largest city: Wheaton)
- Winona (largest city: Winona)
- Kandiyohi (largest city: Willmar)
- Jackson (largest city: Jackson)
- Renville (largest city: Olivia)