All 134 MN House seats, future of DFL Trifecta at stake
On November 5, small business owners like you will help decide the path forward for our state and country. While the presidential race gets the bulk of attention from the news media, down-ballot races also have a major direct impact on your business.
In the narrowly divided Minnesota Legislature, all 134 seats in the Minnesota House are up for election this year. There is also one special election in the Minnesota Senate – an important one as it will decide control of that chamber.
With Governor Walz’s re-election in 2022, Democrats have completely controlled state government for the past two years. The results have been challenging for many small business owners, and Main Street will continue to experience the effects for years to come.
Read the 2023 NFIB MN Session Recap and 2024 NFIB MN Session Recap.
Check out NFIB MN’s 2023-24 Legislative Voting Record.
Democrats currently control the Minnesota House by a slim four-seat margin (70 D, 64 R). The majority in this body will likely come down to less than two dozen competitive districts.
The Minnesota Senate is tied at 33 Republicans and 33 Democrats following the resignation of a suburban member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) who is running for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The stakes for this race are very high.
Check out NFIB MN PAC’s 2024 Legislative Endorsements: Round I, Round II, Round III.
We’ll start our preview of the Minnesota Legislative Elections with a rundown of eight critical races in Greater Minnesota.
For the past six years, Democrats have held onto the majority in the Minnesota House even as many of their old political power bases outside the metro disappeared.
While the DFL could hold their majority by continuing to trade rural seats for ones in the Twin Cities suburbs, their chances would improve significantly if they’re able to hang on to one or two of the districts currently represented by Democrats in Greater Minnesota.
On the other hand, Republicans likely need to win at least two of the DFL-held seats – while hanging on to the ones they currently hold and picking up a few suburban seats – to flip the Minnesota House.
Greater Minnesota: DFL-Held Seats
House District 7B (St. Louis County This seat was long part of the DFL grip on the Iron Range, but it has rapidly shifted toward Republicans in the last decade. After winning by 24% in 2018, retiring Rep. Dave Lislegard held on by just 2.5% in 2022.
This year, Republican Cal Warwas will face DFLer Lorrie Janatopoulos.
Warwas is a 30-year steelworker who has served on the Range Area Municipal School Board and as a local township supervisor. He scored 100% on the NFIB MN PAC candidate questionnaire and is endorsed by NFIB MN PAC.
Janatopoulos is a longtime union official, nonprofit director, and government administrator.
Former President Trump carried the district by 4.5% in 2020, while Governor Walz lost it by a fraction of a point in 2022.
House District 14B (St. Cloud): Rep. Dan Wolgamott, a realtor and DFLer, is seeking his fourth term in the Minnesota House. After more comfortable margins in his first two races, Wolgamott won re-election by just 3.5% in 2022.
In the Legislature, Wolgamott scored 29% on the 2023-24 NFIB MN Voting Record. This places him ahead of many in his caucus, but means he voted for significant tax hikes and onerous mandates like Paid Family and Medical Leave and Paid Sick Time.
He faces Republican nominee Sue Ek, a communications professional and local activist.
President Biden won this district by 4.2% in 2020, while Governor Walz won it by a little less than four points in 2022.
House District 18A (Nicollet County): DFL Rep. Jeff Brand is running for re-election to a third non-consecutive term in the Minnesota House. After a nine-point win in 2018, Brand has split two very close races – losing in 2020 and returning to office in 2022.
Brand fared poorly – scoring just 14% – on the 2023-24 NFIB MN Voting Record, siding against the small business position the vast majority of the time.
Republican Erica Schwartz is seeking office for the first time. With her fiancé, Erica helps run the family-owned Nicollet Mart in Nicollet, MN.
Biden won this district by three points in 2020, while Governor Walz carried it by six points in 2022.
House District 26A (Winona): After nineteen terms, DFL Rep. Gene Pelowski decided to retire earlier this year, making this increasingly swing district one of the most highly competitive races in 2024. Republican Aaron Repinski will face DFLer Sarah Kruger.
Repinski is the owner of Winona Tour Boat, a Mississippi River cruise boat company, and an at-large member of the Winona City Council. Repinski scored 100% on the NFIB MN PAC candidate questionnaire and is endorsed by NFIB MN PAC.
Kruger is chief of staff at the Minnesota chapter of FairVote, an organization that promotes adoption of the Ranked Choice Voting method in local and state elections (RCV is a ranking scheme used in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and a few suburban city elections). She previously served as a political campaign staffer and ran for state Senate in 2020.
In 2020, President Biden won this district by 5.4% in 2020, and Kruger lost this half of the Senate district by 5.8% to incumbent Sen. Jeremy Miller (Winona). Governor Walz carried the district by 4.6% in 2022.
Greater Minnesota: Republican-Held Seats
House District 03A (Northeast Minnesota): First-term Republican Rep. Roger Skraba is seeking re-election against Democrat Harley Droba, the major of International Falls.
Skraba, a U.S. Army veteran and the former mayor of Ely, is a longtime outfitter and wilderness guide in the Boundary Waters. He scored 100% on the 2023-24 NFIB MN Voting Record and is endorsed by the NFIB MN PAC.
Like District 7B, this seat was long held by the DFL – most of the area in the current district was represented by Democrats going back to the 1970s – until Skraba flipped the seat in 2022 by 15 votes.
Both President Biden (2020) and Governor Walz (2022) received a little over 47% of the vote in this district.
House District 03B (Hermantown, St. Louis County): After defeating a 46-year incumbent in her first campaign, Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar is seeking a second term in this highly competitive district. Zeleznikar will face former state court judge Mark Munger.
A Republican, Zeleznikar has owned and operated long-term care facilities in Northeast Minnesota for decades. Zeleznikar holds a 100% pro-small business voting record and was a strong voice for commonsense policies over the past two years. She is endorsed by the NFIB MN PAC.
Munger served as a state district court judge for two decades after fourteen years as the city attorney in Proctor.
President Biden won this district by 5.5% in 2020, and Governor Walz won by 10.7% in 2022.
House District 11A (Carlton County, Pine County): In 2022, local small business owner Jeff Dotseth earned a 3.5% victory to become the first Republican to win this seat in decades.
Dotseth owns a real estate firm and is a longtime NFIB member. In his first term, he scored 100% on the NFIB Voting Record and was a vocal supporter of the Main Street Agenda. Dotseth is endorsed by the NFIB MN PAC.
This year, Dotseth faces a rematch with attorney and newspaper owner Pete Radosevich.
Like the other competitive districts in Northeastern Minnesota, this seat has shifted significantly toward Republicans in recent years. In 2012, President Obama won the seat by 26 points. Subsequent Democratic presidential candidates won by much smaller margins: just 1% in 2016 and 0.7% in 2020.
House District 14A (St. Augusta, Waite Park, St. Cloud): Rep. Bernie Perryman is another first-termer seeking re-election in this increasingly competitive district. In 2022, Perryman won by 1.4% over DFLer Tami Calhoun.
Perryman is an NFIB member who owns and operates two Batteries Plus stores in the St. Cloud area. As a hands-on small business owner, she understands the challenges our members face and was a strong ally of the Main Street Agenda throughout her first term.
Perryman scored 100% of the 2023-24 NFIB MN Voting Record and is endorsed by the NFIB MN PAC.
Abdi Daisane, a business consultant and daycare center owner, is the Democratic nominee.
President Biden carried this district by 2.5% in 2020, while Governor Walz scored an even narrower victory – 1.7% – in 2022.