2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota

The 2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 7, 2000, to select a U.S. senator from the state of Minnesota. The race pitted incumbent Republican Senator Rod Grams against former Minnesota State Auditor Mark Dayton. Dayton won with 48.83% of the vote to Grams's 43.29%. Dayton declined to run for reelection in 2006 and ran successfully in 2010 and 2014 for governor of Minnesota. He was succeeded in the Senate by Amy Klobuchar, who has held the seat ever since. Upon Dayton's swearing in, Democrats held both of Minnesota's U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1978. As of 2024, this is the last time that a man won the Class 1 Senate seat in Minnesota.

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota

← 1994 November 7, 2000 2006 →
 
Nominee Mark Dayton Rod Grams James Gibson
Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Independence
Popular vote 1,181,553 1,047,474 140,583
Percentage 48.83% 43.29% 5.81%

Dayton:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Grams:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Tie:      40–50%      50%      No votes

U.S. senator before election

Rod Grams
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Mark Dayton
Democratic (DFL)

DFL primary

edit

Results

edit
Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic (DFL) Mark Dayton 178,972 41.30
Democratic (DFL) Mike Ciresi 96,874 22.35
Democratic (DFL) Jerry Janezich 90,074 20.78
Democratic (DFL) Rebecca Yanisch 63,289 14.60
Democratic (DFL) Richard Franson 1,336 0.31
Democratic (DFL) Oloveuse S. Savior 1,206 0.28
Democratic (DFL) Gregg A. Iverson 1,038 0.24
Total votes 462,789 100.00

Republican primary

edit

Candidate

edit
  • Rod Grams, incumbent U.S. Senator
  • William Paul "Bill" Dahn

Results

edit
Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Rod Grams (incumbent) 112,335 89.11
Republican William Paul Dahn 13,728 10.89
Total votes 126,063 100.00

General election

edit

Candidates

edit
  • Mark Dayton (DFL), former State Auditor and former candidate for this seat in 1982
  • Rod Grams (R), incumbent U.S. Senator

Debates

edit

Dayton and Grams had three debates, one on October 18, one on October 26, and one on November 3.

Results

edit
2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic (DFL) Mark Dayton 1,181,553 48.83 +4.73
Republican Rod Grams (incumbent) 1,047,474 43.29 −5.76
Independence James Gibson 140,583 5.81 +0.43
Grassroots David Daniels 21,447 0.89 −0.01
Socialist Workers Rebecca Ellis 12,956 0.54 +0.40
Constitution David Swan 8,915 0.37 n/a
Libertarian Erik D. Pakieser 6,588 0.27 n/a
Write-in Ole Savior 4 0.00 n/a
Total votes 2,419,520 100.00 n/a
Democratic (DFL) gain from Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

edit

See also

edit

References

edit