Voters in Chisago County turned out Tuesday for a Minnesota House special election that attracted an unusual amount of attention — particularly from DFLers seeking to regain ground after sweeping Republican victories in the November election.
Polls in the election for House District 32B closed at 8 p.m., and results were not yet available. But both Republican Anne Neu and DFLer Laurie Warner said Tuesday that they were optimistic about a victory, having campaigned aggressively in the last days of the race around the east-central Minnesota district. The candidates are seeking to fill a seat that has been vacant since September, when the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that GOP Rep. Bob Barrett, who represented the area, did not live in the district.
That decision meant the 32B race wasn’t a part of the November election, where voters in the district overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates in other races. Chisago County voters picked President Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a 30-point margin, and also backed Stewart Mills, the GOP candidate who sought unsuccessfully to represent the area in Congress.
But DFLers, fueled by frustration over Election-Day losses and dissatisfaction with Trump, organized a broad effort to back Warner — and expressed optimism that a well-organized campaign could prompt a big enough turnout to win in a Republican district. Both candidates received endorsements and campaign-trail support from big names in Minnesota politics, including leaders in the state Legislature and members of Congress. Warner’s campaign, in particular, drew attention from across the country, including from volunteers offering to help make phone calls and donate to her cause.
By the Friday before the election, Warner said, her campaign had made 25,000 attempts to connect with voters. Warner, 62, a longtime labor union staff member from North Branch who has served on the Duluth City Council, focused on issues like funding for public education and expanded broadband. She said support for schools was important in a community where funding had forced the local district into shortening its school week.
“We’ve done everything we possibly could and now it’s up to the voters,” Warner said Tuesday. Warner
Neu said her team had also been out in force. Though Warner was known to some Chisago County voters from her previous run for state Legislature, Neu, 42, has run a number of Republican campaigns, including managing Chip Cravaack’s congressional victory against former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar in 2010.
A home-school mom to her five children, Neu, who lives in North Branch, spoke to voters about expanding public funding for students at public, private and charter schools and campaigned against abortion and for lower taxes.
Neu said Tuesday that getting people to the polls would be crucial.
“It’s all about turnout,” she said. “We have more voters on our side, on the conservative side. … so I’m cautiously optimistic.”
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