What voters are saying at the polls on Election Day 2026

This article will be updated throughout the day with additional voter interviews.

A lot has happened these past two years.

This is the first election since the start of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran and the inflation that it’s fueled.

Every week seems to bring a new story about the defrauding of the state’s social safety net programs.

The Trump administration sent 3,000 masked agents here for Operation Metro Surge, which left two American citizens dead and thousands more cowering in their homes.

And state Rep. Melissa Hortman was murdered in a politically motivated assassination.

Now, after one of the most expensive and negative campaign cycles in state history, the voters get to have their say. We sent reporters out across the metro and beyond to talk to them on Election Day.

After Trump targeted them, Minneapolis voters fight back

Najma Tohu, 28, an entrepreneur and Whittier neighborhood resident, said she voted a straight DFL ticket, citing Trump’s treatment of Somalis. 

“It’s a disgrace that the president of the United States is going after a community as small as the Somali community,” Tohu said. “Somali people have jobs and businesses and pay taxes like anyone else, and for him to say that we don’t work and live off government resources is a lie and disrespectful,” she said.

Tohu said Democrats have often been called upon by the country to “clean up the messes caused by Republicans, whether it was wars, recessions or attacks on Muslim communities, so I’m sure that if we win these elections, we can clean up all this again.”

Faduma Abdi, 40, a mother of three who lives in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and works at a nursing home, said she previously voted to fulfill her civic duty, but today she voted to fight back against Trump by voting for every Democratic candidate on the ballot.

“Trump targeted us, and now we have the opportunity to fight back. He called us ‘garbage.’ And that’s not acceptable,” Abdi said.

She liked some of his promises in 2024 to improve the economy, create jobs and promote family values (though she didn’t vote for him). But that was all a lie, Abdi said. 

Hibo Muse, 28, is a healthcare worker and Cedar-Riverside resident who voted for Trump in 2024. This year, she voted all DFL.

“I regretted voting for him. I feel as though I’m part of all the pain and suffering that Trump caused,” Muse said.

She said that even though she and many in her community are U.S. citizens, the Somali community was forced into lockdown during Operation Metro Surge. She missed work because she feared that ICE agents would snatch her off the street.

She said her biggest concerns are community safety, the high cost of living, lack of healthcare and targeted attacks on the Somali and immigrant communities.

She said she wants candidates in office who respect and treat all Americans equally.

Republican voters in east metro cite fraud, crime

Retired federal employee and Air Force veteran Larry Dean, 64, voted against the incumbents on his ballot. 

“Because this place is a mess,” Dean said outside his voting place in Cottage Grove. “Everything from world-class fraud that’s never been seen before to immigration stuff that should have never been allowed to happen, and crime. The whole state is wrecked.” 

On the national level, he said America is a “work in progress.” He said the DOGE cuts that decimated the federal workforce worked out well for him, calling it “a gift.” He was put on administrative leave when he already planned to retire. 

“So I got paid for what I was going to do anyways,” Dean said. 

His pension checks also came in without delay, though he built up savings in case they didn’t start arriving for several months. 

Dean said he is worried about the integrity of this election, even though he trusts his own precinct. His concern is over the widespread availability of absentee ballots, which he believes should only be available for people who aren’t able to vote in person. 

“It’s cheatable and that cheating happens in the city,” Dean said. 

Steve Hallis, 72, voted a straight Republican ticket at his polling place in Afton to “stop the bleed.” 

“There’s too much waste going on. It needs to stop,” Hallis said, citing fraud in state programs and Democrats spending the historic $17 billion surplus in 2023. 

At the national level, he said Trump’s trade policies will have the country hurting for awhile, but the payoff will be worth it. 

“It’s about time somebody put tariffs on things coming into our country. We’ve been getting tariffs put on us … Nobody’s ever said anything about that.” 

Hallis said it’s unfortunate that the war in Iran has been going on for so long, but it “had to happen.” 

“All war is bad. I went to Vietnam and I didn’t understand why I was there. I suppose most of our troops don’t understand why we’re overseas right now,” Hallis said. But, he added, “If you don’t fight them there when they’re smaller, they’re going to get bigger.” 

And gas prices? “We’re the only country that doesn’t pay $8 a gallon for fuel. We’re whining and it’s at $4.” 

Anna Kessler, 37, voted in Cottage Grove for all Republicans, saying Democrats have gone too far left on social issues such as abortion, immigration and LGBT topics. 

“We’re doing a lot of LGBT and things that have nothing to do with education,” Kessler said. “In our schools, we’re all about safe spaces rather than this should be a safe space for everybody to learn and grow as individuals. But we’re nitpicking certain things.” 

She voted for Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya even though she calls herself a “pro-choice Republican” and supports abortion rights up to 12 weeks in certain circumstances. 

“It certainly seems much more humane to be in that stance rather than say, ‘Hey, the baby’s born. Do not intervene. Do not engage.’ — is what we have been doing in this state.” 

Lance Dawson, 68, split his ticket at his precinct in Cottage Grove. For attorney general, he voted for Republican Ron Schutz over Attorney General Keith Ellison, whom he doesn’t believe did enough to combat fraud in state social service programs. 

On the other big races, he broke for Democrats and voted for Sen. Amy Klobuchar for governor, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for Senate and Matt Little for U.S. House. He said he wants Flanagan and Little in Congress to serve as a check on Trump. 

“(Trump) is full of pride and views everything through his own lens. He doesn’t feel the pain of the people,” said Dawson, a retired retail manager. 

He pointed to Trump’s news conference on Monday in which he fixated on the reflecting pool in Washington while his party braces for significant midterm losses from voters outraged over inflation. 

“The criticism of (former President Joe) Biden was he was old. Are we not going through that again?” Dawson said. “There needs to be an age limit or a psychological examination before running for president.”

Willa Lukowicz, 18, voted for the first time in Afton — blue up and down the ballot. She’s long been politically active, having helped organize a walk-out at her high school in protest of the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown. 

“So many people I knew were genuinely scared,” said Lukowicz. 

Political activism runs in the family — Lukowicz’s grandfather is active in the DFL Party. He brought Lukowicz and her sister to their polling place to be with them as they cast their ballots (he chose to vote early.) 

“I am very proud,” Bill Rahn said. 

Lukowicz said she was particularly excited to vote for Flanagan, who could become the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. 

“We should uplift Native voices,” she said. 

In Mac-Groveland, a vote for neighbors

Catherine Westby, almost 60, voted a straight DFL ticket, saying she’s “never been so exhausted by the presidency in my life.” She believes MAGA is a cult. “I disagreed with lots of Republican presidents, but I never felt like our democracy, our actual democracy, was in jeopardy. It’s terrifying.”

Westby said her politics are informed by her faith, citing the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I vote with hope out of my religious conviction and beliefs that my vote isn’t just about me, but about my neighbors, my neighbors’ parents, my neighbors’ kids.”

She pushed back on the Republican focus on culture war issues in schools. “I was married to a Minneapolis Public School teacher who just retired after 37 years, and he never once performed a transgender surgical operation. They can’t give out a cough drop without permission. They can’t touch kids. I mean, it’s just insanity.” 

Renee K. Martin, 59, said her Anishinaabe background propelled her to vote for Flanagan. Her vote, she said, was about “protecting our stolen sisters.”

The human resources worker also cited Operation Metro Surge. “I know exactly what our neighborhood went through during that whole experience, and how we were locked down, and how we had to take care of our neighbors. I’m a Minnesota girl. That’s how we roll. We’ll go out in 50-below weather to protect our neighbors.”

She added: “So that’s my vote today: It’s for our neighbors and for Minnesota.”

The Shakopee battleground

When asked how she voted Tuesday, Lana Wood of Shakopee said “Christian.” 

For Wood, a retired insurance claims agent in her 60s, that means voting all Republican. 

She cited abortion and transgender rights as the key issues that drove her voting decisions. 

“I do not agree with abortion, especially with all the knowledge that has come out about when the fetus becomes a baby. The third trimester is totally wrong,” she said.

When it comes to transgender issues, she said a person can make their own choices, but kids should not be medically transitioning, and “men need to get out of the women’s locker rooms.” 

“Don’t cram it down my throat,” she said.

Under Democratic leadership, Wood said, things are going “terribly” in Minnesota, rating the state “negative 50” on a scale from 1 to 10. “We’re a laughingstock and an embarrassment all over the country.”

She said over the last eight years, Democrats have accepted too many immigrants who “don’t work and drive better cars than working class people.”

As for Trump, he may say things “too fast without thinking,” she allowed, but added that he “speaks from the heart” and wants what’s best for the country. 

Ayodeji Fatejo, 41, is from Nigeria and has lived in Minnesota for about two decades. 

Fatejo voted for Democrats Tuesday for the sake of his five children, he said, and because he is tired of the “fighting and destruction” caused by the U.S. government — from the slain Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti to the war in Iran. 

He said the priority of a democracy should be to protect lives and property: “Any government that doesn’t have regard for either is going astray. And that is where America is going.”

Fatejo, who works for the postal service, said he struggles with the rising cost of living, especially childcare costs. 

Things are “mostly okay” in Minnesota these days, Fatejo said, but he said he’s personally experienced discrimination at the hands of police, an issue he said he hopes receives more attention under DFL leadership. 

Myles Watts, a mechanic who lives in Shakopee, voted for the first time Tuesday morning because he’s tired of high gas prices, lack of affordable housing and “just the way people are.”

He voted DFL up and down the ballot, largely due to Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, and his immigration enforcement policies, which Watts called “crazy.”

“He isn’t doing the right thing,” he said before going on to call Operation Metro Surge “f*cked up.”

The majority of immigrants are “coming here to make a good living,” he added.  

Before exiting the voting precinct into a downpour, Watts reminisced about his childhood — a time when the cost of living was more reasonable and there was less political hostility, he said, both in Minnesota and nationwide. 

“I just want the good times back,” said Watts, 18.  

Ed Daub and Ashley O’Grady, a married couple who live in Shakopee, voted for Democrats in every race, citing the rising cost of living. 

They don’t have kids because they can’t afford to. 

“Because we can’t afford insulin or daycare,” O’Grady said.

Daub, a 39 year-old warehouse worker, is a Type I diabetic who struggles to afford his medicine and has seen his insurance deductible rise by $1,000 in the past year alone. 

O’Grady is a 35 year-old hairstylist. The cost of her hair products has gone up “astronomically” since Trump instituted tariffs in early 2025. 

Daub said he has seen a similar impact on products at his warehouse. 

Both Daub and O’Grady were excited to see women dominating the ballot in the Minnesota races. 

But they also said they’ve had enough of the Trump era. 

“A lot of us are at a point now where we are over the ‘agree to disagree’ attitude,” O’Grady said. “I am done sugar-coating it.” 

A Lakeville voter disparages Muslims — and another voter responds

John Paul Malahowski, 70, tossed out “Santa’s Christian” while passing the Reformer on the way out of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lakeville, his precinct’s polling place. 

When asked to elaborate, Malahowski said he voted Republican, “Because I don’t want to become a Muslim.” 

Echoing Trump, who has referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as “shith*le countries” and has aggressively disparaged Minnesota’s Somali population, Malahowski said that Minnesota is a “sh*thole” because “it’s filled up with Muslims.” 

Malahowski called Trump the “greatest president that ever was.” 

Malahowski, who said he’s Christian and a retired postal worker, said he was coworkers with Muslims. “Good friends, laughed and talked, but they still hung to their religion,” Malahowski said. 

The majority of Muslim Americans say that there’s a lot of discrimination against Muslims, according a 2026 Pew Research survey portrait of Muslim Americans; the survey also found that 42% of American adults believe that Muslims have a negative impact on the country. 

Stephanie Danek, 73, overheard Malahowski on her way into the polls. On her way out, she told the Reformer that she thinks Trump supporters are “uneducated.”

“I’ve traveled a lot and gone to a lot of other countries and experienced a lot of other cultures,” Danek said. “I feel like people that are so in a tight-knit group and haven’t experienced the world, they’re more likely to be the people that have prejudice.”

Danek, who lives in Lakeville and worked as a music teacher and a realtor before retiring, grew up in South Dakota and described herself as being “in the middle” of the political spectrum. She said she’s a registered Republican but hasn’t voted for a Republican in over a decade, in part because of what she described as Trump’s “blatant” corruption.

“It’s so obvious. All the billions of dollars that the president is making. I don’t understand why people think that’s okay. Because it’s not,” Danek said.

(According to mandatory financial disclosures, Trump pulled in over $2.2 billion in income in 2025, compared to his income of $622 million in 2024 when he was not in office yet. The windfall largely comes from his family’s cryptocurrency business.)

Danek described Minnesota as a “fantastic place to live,” but alluded to needing to fix “this corruption stuff” — i.e., fraud in the state’s public programs, which Republicans have made a central issue in their campaigns. Danek said she thinks Republicans, especially those that have been in the state Legislature, are wrong to place the blame solely on Democrats.

“You should have known. So if you’re running for an office now and you’re claiming that, ’Oh, it’s all the Democrats,’” Danek said. “Well, you know what? You’re a state representative. So all the Republicans and all the Democrats should have been knowing what was going on.”

Dale Lehnert, 73, wore a shirt reading “Immigrants are not criminals, but the president is.”

Lehnert, a retired BMW motorcycle technician who said he voted for Trump in 2016, called Trump “a lying son of a b*tch.”

“He’s a crook. He’s a megalomaniac, he’s psychotic, he’s psychopathic,” Lehnert said. “He’s — he never should have f*cking been born.”

When asked why he voted for Trump in 2016, Lehnert said, “Because I believed his lies that it would be politics not as usual.”

Lehnert voted for all Democrats this time around.

A mix in Faribault

Two first-time voters and friends Asia Ali and Habso Ali (no relation), both 20, said concerns about anti-Muslim bigotry and feeling unwelcome in their own country motivated them to cast their first ballots Tuesday. 

Asia Ali, a nursing student at Normandale Community College, said Trump’s comments about her culture that ultimately pushed her to vote for the first time.

“The fact that he just hates our religion and culture is just not right,” Asia Ali said. “He’s the president, and I don’t think the president should be saying anything about a whole group of people.” 

Habso Ali, who is a nursing student at South Central College, echoed that sentiment, saying they both wanted to see an end to the current hostility. 

“We just want the hate to be over. That’s it. Full stop,” Habso said. 

Both said they voted for all Democratic candidates, and name checked Flanagan.

David Estrem, a Northfield farmer, said he voted Tuesday hoping to bring change to state government, particularly around spending and fraud. 

“We need changes. and we’re hoping that we can help change it,” he said of the DFL’s hold on state government. 

He said Democrats were “sitting on a large amount of money when our governor got in.” Now, he said, the state is “broke” and “ran over by illegals.”

“Don’t care for that,” Estrem said. 

On the national side, Estrem has mixed opinions. 

He favored Operation Metro Surge and calls himself pro-ICE, but said it went too far. 

“I think there has to be a better way. You just don’t go and shoot people and stuff like that,” Estrem said. 

When it comes to Trump, Estrem has some mixed feelings, though he largely still trusts the president. 

“I think he’s [Trump] a great guy,” Estrem said. “He’s got to shut his mouthhole.”

Despite those reservations, David said he would vote for Trump again if he were on the ballot

Although Estrem did vote Republican down the ballot, he did support Democratic Minnesota state Senate candidate Mark Legvold, who is running to represent District 58.

Estrem said he has known Legvold for years, having hauled corn for his father, and noted that Legvold previously worked at John Deere.

“I want to give him a fair shot,” Estrem said. “I hope he’s proactive and be able to reach across the aisle.”

In West St. Paul, Operation Metro Surge is top of mind

Roman Rosas, 42, a baker who lives in West St. Paul, said that he voted Democrat up and down the ballot in response to Trump’s policies on immigration and the economy. He spoke to the Reformer outside Dakota Lodge in Thompson County Park, his precinct’s polling place. 

Rosas immigrated from Mexico in 1997 and is a U.S. citizen. Though he said he was not directly affected by Operation Metro Surge, he knew people from his hometown, Puebla, who were. 

The administration is “not giving to people the opportunity to do it even the right way. They go to courts and they deport them right there from the court,” Rosas said, referring to federal immigration agents arresting immigrants when they show up to immigration check-ins or court. 

Rosas also criticized Trump’s war in Iran. 

“They say it was going to end in a couple days, and we are how many months on that stupid war?” Rosas said. 

Rosas said Trump is “smart for business” but lacks personal values. 

“He tried to run the government as a business, but it’s not a business,” Rosas said. “You have to take account of people, like — just because he’s making money, he don’t care about the economy or the people who are suffering his policies. And he benefits the rich people, but how about the poor people?” 

Monica Facundo, 20, also said immigration was a top issue for her. 

“We’re breaking families up and tearing people in our community apart, when I think our communities from different places bring a lot to those states,” Facundo said. 

Facundo’s father and stepfather are both immigrants.  Her stepfather was afraid to go outside during Operation Metro Surge, she said, even though he has a visa and is in the country legally. 

“He works two jobs. He dropped one of them for the time being,” Facundo said. “He didn’t go to any of our siblings’ sporting events because he was scared. I would have to go to the store for my parents.” 

Facundo, who is in college for social work and lives in West St. Paul, said she doesn’t “feel the best” about how the U.S. is doing. 

“I guess my biggest thing is still just being a person of color and Republicans having the ability to just, like, speak their hatred,” Facundo said.