Republican flips Minnesota seat held by Democrats for two decades giving Minnesota Senate Republicans a 3 seat majority-Star-Tribune

Rarick won by 8 points.

2/5/19, “GOP’s Jason Rarick wins tight special election for Minnesota Senate seat,” Star-Tribune, Torey Van Oot

“Republican Jason Rarick won a hotly contested special election for a Minnesota Senate seat Tuesday, expanding the GOP’s narrow majority in the chamber.

Rarick, a state representative from Pine City, defeated Democrat Stu Lourey 53 percent to 45 percent to flip the 11th Senate District. Legal Marijuana Now candidate John Birrenbach captured 2 percent of the vote.

The win means Republicans will expand their narrow majority [now 3 votes] in the state Senate by one vote. The 35-32 split may make it more difficult for Gov. Tim Walz and Democrats in control of the state House to pass proposals key to their agenda, including bills related to guns, heath care and a gas tax, this session.

The results also bring an end more than two decades of representation in the district by Democrats and members of the Lourey family.

The seat opened up after Walz appointed former Democratic Sen. Tony Lourey, who is Stu Lourey’s father, as his Human Services commissioner. Tony Lourey had succeeded his own mother, Becky Lourey, in the district.

High stakes led political parties and outside groups to target the seat, spending heavily and sending scores of volunteers to rally voters in what was expected to be a low-turnout election. Ballot delays reported in the district’s many mail-only precincts complicated the four-week sprint to fill the seat.

Given those dynamics, Lourey, Rarick and their respective allies focused heavily on encouraging voters to head to the polls, even if they were planning to vote by mail, in the final stretch of the race. 

While Lourey and Rarick split on many key issues in front of the Legislature, both sought to emphasize their ties to the district. Lourey, a Kerrick native and son of the former state senator, previously worked as an aide to Democratic Sens. Al Franken and Tina Smith. His bid attracted support from some of the state’s most powerful political players, including Walz, progressive political groups and labor unions such as Minnesota’s AFL-CIO. He would be the third consecutive member of his family to represent the seat.

Rarick, meanwhile, was recently elected to a third term representing the southern half of the district in the state House. On the campaign trail, he emphasized his support for gun rights and restricting abortion, as well as his background as an electrician. That past work helped him land endorsements from a handful of trade unions, which he also touted heavily in his communication with voters.

The district, which covers all of Pine and parts of Carlton, Kanabec and St. Louis counties, has been represented by Democrats for decades. But recent gains by Republicans in greater Minnesota, including President Donald Trump’s double-digit win in the district in 2016, put the open seat in play.”





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