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Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2025

Has Minnesota voted for Democratic presidential candidates since 1976? 

Deanna Pistono, MinnPost
yes

Minnesota last went “red” during a presidential election in 1972, when the majority of voters in the state chose Richard Nixon, the incumbent Republican president, over Democratic nominee George McGovern.

The first U.S. presidential election Minnesotans took part in was the 1860 election, two years after Minnesota had been admitted to the union as the 32nd state. In that election (won by Abraham Lincoln), along with subsequent elections until 1908 and the 1916 to 1928 elections, Minnesota went for Republican presidential candidates. In 1912, Minnesota went for Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as a member of his own Progressive Party after not receiving the Republican nomination. 

For the majority of presidential elections since 1932, Minnesota has voted for the Democratic presidential candidate. The only exceptions to this have been the 1952 and 1956 elections (when Minnesota went for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower) along with the 1972 election. 

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