Midterms mayhem: Minnesota seats could tip power in U.S. House in November
WASHINGTON – In an unsettled election year, Minnesota — where half the congressional seats are up for grabs as electoral maps shift from red to blue and blue to red — could be the state that tips the balance of power in the U.S. House.
Two Republicans hold seats in largely suburban districts where their party may be losing ground. Two Democrats are stepping down in outstate Minnesota districts that President Donald Trump carried decisively.
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“I cannot have any real effect on Donald Trump, but I am represented in Washington by a person,” said Jena Martin, co-chair of Indivisible MN03, a progressive group that formed after Trump was elected. That person, she believes, should no longer be U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen of Eden Prairie, a Republican who represents a suburban district that Hillary Clinton carried — landing him on a shortlist of the most endangered incumbents in the country.
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Activists have repeatedly picketed Paulsen’s office, questioning why he hasn’t held an open town hall in years. Paulsen said he has no plans during the midterm cycle to change his district outreach: open office hours, telephone town halls and private meetings with constituents and businesses. He said he did not want to “be shouted down by others who want to be boisterous or have other intentions.”
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Meanwhile, Dean Phillips, the wealthy Democrat seeking to unseat Paulsen, is crisscrossing the Third District in a mobile campaign office-slash-coffee truck, hoping suburban voters’ low opinion of Trump in numerous polls will extend to the GOP’s congressional majority. Minnesotans, Phillips said, are eager for common ground on divisive issues like health care, the environment and safe schools.
“I wouldn’t make the argument that this is becoming a blue district,” Phillips said. “What I would argue is that it’s one of the most thoughtful, most engaged districts in this entire country — and that means thoughtful Republicans and thoughtful Democrats and many independents, which is a hallmark of the Third District.”
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Similar dynamics animate the race in the neighboring Second District, where first-term Republican Rep. Jason Lewis is facing a rematch with DFLer Angie Craig in a mostly suburban and exurban district that Trump won by just 1 percentage point in 2016.
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The 2016 election, when Trump carried all but nine of Minnesota’s 87 counties, gave Republicans hope that the state’s political landscape had shifted.
Rep. Collin Peterson has represented western Minnesota’s sprawling, largely rural Seventh District since 1991. He is the only DFLer running again in a district that Trump won. But a GOP state representative planning to challenge him dropped out last year, leaving the party for now without a top-tier challenger.
Still, Republicans see major opportunities in southern and northeastern Minnesota.
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http://www.startribune.com/midterm-mayhem-half-of-minnesota-s-congressional-seats-in-play-this-year/475106303/
