Minnesota Primary Turnout Estimated Highest In 24 Years

Minnesota’s long list of big races in Tuesday’s primary sparked the biggest turnout in more than 20 years.

Spokesman Ben Petok for the Secretary of State’s office tweeted late Tuesday that it was about 21.5 percent turnout, the best since 1994. Turnout in midterm primary elections in recent cycles has been more in the range of 10 to 15 percent.

Tuesday’s election set November matchups for governor, two U.S. Senate seats and several toss-up congressional races:

US Rep. Tim Walz won in a three-way Democratic primary for Minnesota governor, while county commissioner Jeff Johnson defeated former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty in Republican primary for Minnesota governor.

In the Beltrami County Commissioner District 1 race, Craig Gaasvig led the pack with 53 percent of the vote. Natalie Grosfield followed with 30.89 percent of votes, and Heather L. Broda received 15.51 percent of votes.

For city council member at large in Bemidji, Don Heinonen received 40.94 percent of the vote. He was followed by Jim Thompson with 34.89 percent and Lawrence Hanenberger with 24.17 percent of votes.

You can find full state election results here.