Biden Wins Minnesota; Votes Still Being Counted in Other Key States

Former Vice President Joe Biden won Minnesota against current president Donald Trump as the race to see who wins this year’s 2020 election continues to be calculated. 

Joe Biden easily defeated Donald Trump in Minnesota, a state Trump thought he could flip in his bid for reelection to the U.S. presidency.

Biden pulled in 231,695 more votes than Trump, garnering 52.6% of the vote to Trump’s 45.4%. Actual vote counts were 1,694,093 for Biden and 1,462,398 for Trump. The Associated Press officially called the race for Biden Wednesday afternoon. Biden takes Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes; 270 are needed to win the White House.

Locally, Blue Earth County voters favored Biden 51% to 47%. The remaining 2% was split among other third party candidates.

Also The Associated Press announced Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat, won her reelection bid over Republican challenger Jason Lewis. Results show Smith won with 1,546,810 (48.8%) over Lewis’ 1,378,579 (43.5%).  

Representing U.S. House District 1, Republican candidate Jim Hagedorn won a second term after defeating Democratic challenger Dan Feehan for the second time in two years. With nearly all the votes counted, Hagedorn has 177,941 votes (48.6%) while Feehan 167,035 (45.6%).

In the state senate race for District 19, incumbent Sen. Nick Frentz won reelection over Republican challenger Elizabeth Bangert. Frentz pulled in 25,983 votes (59.8%) and Bangert pulled in 17,419 (40.1%).

Minnesota House District 19B Luke Frederick defeated Jeremy Loger. Frederick had 11,906 votes (59.6%) and Loger had 8,028 (40.2%).

Also interesting is that about 7,780 Minnesotans voted for Kanye West, running as an independent along with his Vice President pick Michelle Tidball, a Christian preacher from Wyoming.

Election Day is now over as the in-person voting polls closed 8 p.m Tuesday. This, however, is not the only form of voting. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many voted via mail. This form of voting takes longer to analyze and count.

As of Wednesday, still were being counted. Vote counting could take several days. 

According to the most recent polls by The Guardian, Biden has won California which is 58 electoral votes and Trump has won Florida and Texas with a combined electoral votes of 67 — both huge states that contribute the candidate’s race to 270. 

As of Wednesday afternoon Biden was up with 253 electoral votes and Trump with 214 electoral votes although some states are still being tabulated.

Former Vice President Biden gave a speech in Delaware on election night a couple of hours after the polls had closed in Delaware.

“We’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished, and it ain’t over until every vote is counted and every ballot is counted,” Biden said. “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won this election, that’s the decision of the American people, but I’m optimistic about this outcome.” 

The last time Minnesota voted in favor for the Republican Party was 1972 when president Richard Nixon was elected President.

Minnesota has been a “blue” state ever since, voting in favor of the Democratic candidate.

“We were all ready to get outside and celebrate something that was so beautiful, so good, such a vote, such a success,” Trump said on election night. “The citizens of the country have come out in record numbers, this is a record, there’s never been anything like it to support our incredible movement and win states we weren’t expected to win.”

MNSU students were able to let their voice be heard as many participated in this year’s election.

“Yes, I did vote today. Honestly, I have no clue who’s gonna win, it’s kind of up in the air at this point,” MNSU freshman Kaitlyn Erickson said.