Election Day is here: Finally, mercifully, the voters get to do the talking

Minnesotans are typically the nation’s most enthusiastic voters, and this year is likely to be no different with DFL Gov. Tim Walz running for vice-president. Already, more than 1.1 million Minnesotans have voted.

Following the most volatile presidential election in modern times — assassination attempts, felony convictions, a candidate switcheroo — the voters will finally have their say Tuesday in what most election analysts are calling a true toss-up.

Beyond just deciding whether to send Walz back to Washington, however, voters have other important decisions to make. Minnesota voters in the 2nd Congressional District — the state’s most competitive — will have some say about control of the U.S. House.

And voters in about 15 state House battleground districts — as well as a sole west metro special state Senate election — will decide the fate of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s current control of the state Legislature.

The Reformer talked to voters in the metro, St. Cloud, Belle Plaine and northwest Minnesota, first during the early voting period, and then Tuesday.

In critical swing districts, party affiliation trumps personalities

North metro districts 35A and 35B, which include Coon Rapids and Andover, are critical contests for a DFL majority seeking to hold on to the House.

Incumbent Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, is facing a difficult challenge from Republican Josh Jungling, the charitable gambling manager for Anoka Ramsey Athletic Association. The race for the 35A seat has drawn over $1.2 million in outside spending, according to the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, which is among the most expensive this election cycle. 

Danielle Fakler, 45, voted for Harris and Democrats down the ballot. A Coon Rapids resident, she hasn’t always voted that way, but she feels Republicans have become too extreme and are blindly loyal to Trump.

“At this point, anyone who has an ‘R’ behind their name I will not vote for, because if you’re going to affiliate yourself with the party that put Trump at the top, you’ve lost any credibility with me,” Fakler said. 

Nearby district 35B has also drawn over $1.2 million in outside spending, according to the Campaign Finance Board. 

The DFL candidate is Coon Rapids City Council member Kari Rehrauer and the Republican running for the seat is Steve Pape, an engineer and Vietnam veteran. 

Maintenance technician Andrew Augst, 53, voted for Trump and Republicans down ballot because he’s “a Republican, hardcore.”

“Yeah, Trump can be an asshole, but I’d rather have that than the other option,” Augst said.

He said he voted for Pape, even though he doesn’t know much about it other than that he’s a Republican. 

Account manager Matt Bjork, 49, voted for Harris because he believes she could be bipartisan and he’s confident that Trump cannot. 

Bjork voted for Rehrauer because he received many negative ads about her from Pape. 

“When somebody sends me nothing but negative ads about their opponent but nothing good about themselves, that’s a red flag to me. They’ve got nothing to offer,” Bjork said.

In Red Lake Falls, Trump and women’s rights on the mind

Election judges reported strong turnout and higher-than-expected same-day registrations.

Nathan Guillemette, who identifies as a political independent, said he was supporting Trump as a way of shaking up the status quo. “The political establishment in America needs to end,” he said. “Kamala says she’s for change, but she said she wouldn’t have done anything differently from what Biden would have done. It’s time for a change.”

He added that “Trump is not perfect, I don’t always appreciate his antics. But I feel like he did a better job running the country.”

Rochelle and Marshall Mickelson said they were voting for Harris. “I just feel like she’s morally a better candidate than the other one,” Rochelle said. “I feel like she has a better chance of leading the country in the right direction.”

“I’m pro-Democratic all around for women’s rights purposes and education purposes,” Marshall said. “I’m a little scared of what would happen if things were to change over to the Republican side.”

Greater Minnesota is Trump country

In the Red River Valley town of Crookston, abortion and the economy were at the top of many voters’ minds.

Retiree Sylvia Martin said she wasn’t persuaded by Democrats’ framing of the abortion issue. “Women aren’t losing any health rights other than abortion. And even that, it’s up to the state. Why are we even talking about it, really?”

College student Georgia Evenson said her anti-abortion views motivated her to vote for Trump. She added that “personally I like that he’s more of a businessman, because I think that the U.S. kind of needs that with the economic state how it all is.”

Gunnar Erickson, also a college student, said he was excited about voting for Trump for “his economic policies and his foreign relation policies.” He said the latter is “a big issue that has cost this country a lot of money in previous years, and I just think that his reform policy is going to help us out tremendously.”

But Erickson said he wasn’t enthusiastic about either U.S. Senate candidate and ended up backing Democrat Amy Klobuchar, citing her support for farmers. He said he hadn’t heard much about Republican candidate Royce White, a view echoed by fellow student Edith Kemp, who said she supported Trump but didn’t vote for a Senate candidate.

Democratic voters also cited abortion as a motivating factor. Crookston resident Larry Quamme said he likes “everything” about Harris, and said that women’s rights, including abortion access, were his top issue. Those views drove him to vote for Democratic candidates straight down the ticket.

Cottage Grove voter likes a former police officer for state House

After doing some last-minute research on the down ballot candidates in the polling place at Park High School in Cottage Grove, software application developer Mitchell Moua, 35, voted for Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democrats on the ticket. That includes U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and state House candidate Lucia Wroblewski, a former St. Paul police officer running to replace a Republican in a competitive swing district.  

“Democrats tend to have a bad rap for defund the police … I think her being a former officer is a good balance to that,” Moua said. 

Moua said he’s been happy with Walz’s leadership of the state, especially his ability to recognize the diversity of Minnesota. 

“Since the George Floyd incident, Minnesota has gotten a very bad rap for being a very racist state, which I don’t feel is the case,” Moua said. “His work to highlight all communities in Minnesota is a good reflection of that.” 

A St. Cloud retiree votes Republican all the way down

Voters leaving Redeemer Lutheran Church were largely reluctant to speak publicly about who they voted for and why. 

One exception: 71-year-old Jay Huehn, a retiree who enjoys reading history and spending time on the question-and-answer platform Quora. 

Huehn isn’t religious, and he doesn’t care much about social wedge issues like abortion or LGBTQ rights. 

He voted Republican up and down his ballot, from Trump to state House candidate Sue Ek, because he believes the country’s economy fared better during Trump’s first term — and he resents how long Walz kept businesses closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He worries about having a woman as commander-in-chief because women are more emotional than men, Huehn said. 

“If [terrorist organizations] don’t respect their own women, they won’t respect the American president,” Huehn said. 

St. Paul voters divided on child care, city election questions

If voters at the Linwood Community Center in St. Paul — where long lines moved a relatively brisk pace — are likely unified Tuesday around Harris and Walz, they may be divided on three ballot questions on funding for environmental conservation; raising taxes for a new child care subsidy; and moving city elections to even-numbered years. 

Chanel Strandquist, a physician assistant, cast her ballot for Harris as the alternative to Donald Trump, because of the way he talks about immigrants and women.

She voted against raising property taxes to pay for a new child care subsidy program that Mayor Melvin Carter has said he would not enact if passed. She also voted to move city elections to even years. 

“I don’t come on odd years, and I literally live across the street. You just don’t think about it,” Strandquist said. 

Chris Bruhn and Carly Helfrich, both 35, said they were excited to vote for Harris and supported DFL candidates all the way down the ballot. 

“The Democrats have a strong ticket for the first time, well, since Obama,” Bruhn said. “Tim Walz is our neighbor and has been an amazing governor … and we were already sold with Harris.” 

“She cares about everybody, not just the top 1%,” Helfrich said. 

Bruhn, who works as an engineer in utility-scale solar, said the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats has been a boon for his industry (though he noted solar is already the cheapest form of utility-scale energy). He said the tax credits in the law are critical as the country transitions to renewable energy and demand for electricity surges. 

“The IRA tax incentives help immensely,” Bruhn said. “It needs to be upheld.” 

Helfrich and Bruhn voted to keep citywide elections on odd-numbered years, arguing that it ensures people who vote are motivated and informed. They didn’t support the tax subsidies for child care although they believe it’s a worthy cause because they weren’t sure the city would be able to follow through with its promise. 

A construction worker for Trump

Jeremy Hofferber, a construction worker who moved into his own place in Minneapolis after being homeless, voted early and he voted for Trump.  

“(Trump) is not a bullshitter, he’s already got a life established. He’s made his business for people. He’s owned casinos, he’s owned hotels, he gives his money away. He wrote off his government paycheck,” Hofferber said. 

Hofferber aired a litany of complaints about Harris, the Democratic Party and the mainstream media as well as the country’s voting practices, food system, immigration and the war in Ukraine, which he called “absurd.” 

He said he thinks Trump will be better at dealing with Russia because he’s “friends with Putin and he knows how to leverage Putin.” 

“I feel Kamala is too incompetent. Kamala is constantly either stealing people’s ideas and lies all the time and then goes back on her word all the time. Try to listen to her interviews. She never makes a (expletive) point, she circles around and doesn’t really give an answer,” he said.

Moving back home

In Woodbury, Ashley Helge, a 25-year-old freelance photographer and 3D modeler, said she’s reluctantly a Harris supporter. 

“(She’s) better, not the best. Like, say, Palestine, she’s been kind of distancing herself. It’s kind of pretty much what it’s always been, is picking between the best of two,” Helge said. 

Helge, who moved back to Woodbury in May after study and travel in Europe, said her politics have moved left in recent years as part of her self-discovery that she’s transgender. Her top issues are LGBT rights, public transit and right to repair laws to give consumers greater control over products ranging from iPhones to farm equipment.  

Stacey Kreger relocated to eastside St. Paul three years ago from the Frogtown neighborhood. She’s the director of administration at a charter school. She votes Democratic-Farmer-Labor, and is supporting Harris. 

“It aligns with my values,” Kreger said as she walked her dog. Democracy, abortion rights and education are her top three issues. 

On democracy: “I believe in the power of a democracy and I don’t like someone threatening it,” Kreger said. 

On abortion rights: “Women should have the right to decide what happens to their body with their doctor. I find it ironic that (Republicans) tend to talk about valuing freedom, yet they want to hinder women’s right to choose and hamper their freedom,” Kreger said.

On education: “I appreciate Walz’s leadership in Minnesota and believe having Democrats in power in the state has been very good for education. There is more work to be done and I believe Democratic leadership is important.”

In Belle Plaine, support for Libertarian nominee Chase Oliver

Anastasia Kukacka, a 38-year-old bank teller and Belle Plaine resident, supports Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver, although her family has historically voted Republican. 

“(My husband and I) both grew up Republican and that’s where our values align,” Kukacka said.

As a mother with two children, including an autistic son, education and family values are hugely important to her. “Just making sure the schools are safer for our kids and getting the education we need. Both parties need to work on (education) honestly, I would like to see them put more funding into special education programs.” 

Both her children go to Belle Plaine schools, and she says she is having a great experience with them and has appreciated their care and respect for her son. “They’re very in communication with us, they communicate with us daily to ensure they are meeting our needs. They don’t do anything before running it before us, and he’s able to say what he needs throughout the day.”

Kukacka said in a follow-up email that Americans should explore candidates beyond just the two major parties: “If more people actually researched all the candidates and voted with their morals rather than by party or popularity, third party candidates could be elected and give America fresh new voices instead of the same tired narrative.”

A Northside Republican

Angela Williams, 60, voted early for Trump, although she thinks Republicans should do a better job reaching the Black community, some of whom share her conservative values. 

“We want security in our communities. We want economic growth. We want the community to thrive together. We want to figure out how we can cut some of these taxes,” Williams said in a phone interview. 

Williams ran for City Council to represent part of north Minneapolis against LaTrisha Vetaw in 2023 and finished third. She does community outreach and engagement work and also helps inmates at Stillwater prison with their legal documentation. 

In 2016, she voted for Hillary Clinton because she thought she would be a great president. She has since lost faith in the Democratic party. “The reason why I will never vote Democrat again is I see the condition of our community. People need help. When a mother called me crying with her three kids in the car because they homeless, you know what? Why am I voting for a Democrat? The leadership that has been under the DFL is destroying our communities.” 

She spent the interview talking about education, abortion and crime. 

“I want to see our children being able to walk safely home from school without getting shot. I want a good education for my (grandkids).  They’ve taken everything out the schools and replacing it with a lot of LGBT type of education, sex education type of things, you know, and it’s really destroying — they’re making our kids confused,” she said.

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