The latest: Election Day 2026

Cedrick Frazier will become the next Hennepin County attorney after narrowly defeating former acting U.S. Attorney Anders Folk.

According to the unofficial vote tally, Frazier topped Folk by less than 2 percentage points — 8,300 votes out of more than 500,000 cast.

Frazier, a DFL state representative and former public defender, will become Hennepin County's first African American county attorney.

“I will work every single day to uphold equal justice and strengthen public safety,” Frazier said in a statement.

Frazier has also worked as an attorney for Minneapolis Public Schools and a labor attorney for the state teachers’ union, Education Minnesota.

During his campaign, Frazier focused on gun violence and youth crime. He’s also calling for more crime prevention and alternatives to incarceration.

Frazier will fill the seat being vacated by Mary Moriarty, who opted not to run for reelection after one term.

The outcome of Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Rep. Brad Finstad and Democratic challenger Jake Johnson remained too close to call Wednesday morning.

Finstad and Johnson each held about 50 percent of the vote, with Johnson clinging to a slim edge in the unofficial returns. A recount is possible.

With all precincts reporting Wednesday morning, Johnson had 163,057 votes or 49.99 percent, and Finstad had 162,734 votes or 49.89 percent. There were 391 write-in votes cast in that race, 0.12 percent of the vote.

Finstad faced a stiff challenge from a political newcomer in Johnson, a teacher, in the 1st District that runs largely through farm country in far southern Minnesota from the South Dakota border to Wisconsin.

The competition attracted a swell of outside money late in the race. Groups poured about $10 million into ads, canvassing and other voter outreach from the August primary through the final days. That’s on top of what the candidates spent themselves.

Democrats had been shut out of the district since Tim Walz served the last of his six terms. He left to run for governor, a job he won in 2018.

How do recounts work?

Recounts in Minnesota are not automatic, but the losing candidate may request one under certain circumstances. A publicly funded recount can be requested in federal, judicial or state constitutional offices if the margin between the winning and losing candidate is less than 0.25 percent of the vote.

Candidates may pay for a recount in races in which the vote margin is beyond the threshold for a publicly funded recount.

Voters in the politically divided St. Cloud area are sending three DFLers to the Minnesota Capitol next year, including the region’s first Somali American legislator.

DFLer Abdi Daisane won the House District 14A seat, flipping a seat that had been represented by a Republican. He ran unsuccessfully for the same seat in 2024, but lost to state Rep. Bernie Perryman.

Daisane is a small business owner who came to the U.S. more than 15 years ago. He defeated Republican Mike Conway, the current St. Cloud City Council president, with about 52 percent of the vote.

This year, Perryman tried but failed to unseat DFLer state Sen. Aric Putnam. Instead, Putnam won his third term representing Senate District 14, which includes St. Cloud, Waite Park, St. Joseph, St. Augusta and Sauk Rapids.

Putnam, a communications professor at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, garnered about 56 percent of the vote.

St. Cloud-area voters also elected a DFLer to the other House seat, District 14B. Former legislator Zach Dorholt won with about 57 percent against Republican Sue Ek.

Dorholt is a mental health professional and a current member of the St. Cloud school board. He was elected to the Minnesota House in 2012 and served one term.

The District 14B House seat was left vacant by DFL Rep. Dan Wolgamott, who made an unsuccessful bid for state auditor.

Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, who is part of House leadership, won reelection to represent the 6th District that runs from the northern suburbs to St. Cloud.

He defeated DFLer Doug Chapin, a former college professor and congressional staffer.

Emmer was first elected to the House in 2014.

With 100% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press, Democrat Cole Birkeland has unseated Republican state Rep. Wayne Johnson in Minnesota’s District 41A. Birkeland earned more than 54 percent of the vote, a more than 2,000-vote margin that far outmatches the 327-vote margin by which Johnson won the district in 2024.

Republican Tom McKee, mayor of Corcoran, has defeated DFLer Darci Smith, with 100% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press. McKee won 52% of the vote, more than 1,000 votes more than Smith mustered.

McKee is taking the state House seat after GOP state Rep. Kristin Robbins announced she was retiring to make an unsuccessful bid for governor.

Democrat Kristy Janigo beat Republican Brady Hoag to win Maple Grove’s open Minnesota Senate seat, with 100% of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press. The win represents an important flip for the DFL as it clings to its one-seat majority in the state Senate.

Republican state Sen. Warren Limmer had held the seat for almost four decades prior before retiring this year, and the district backed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Both of those factors opened this race to become one of the year’s most competitive. Party and outside spending in the district approached $700,000 last month.

With 100% of precincts reporting, per the Associated Press, Democrat Chris Ford has unseated Republican state Sen. Michael Kreun to win District 32’s state Senate race on Tuesday. Ford finished with 53 percent of the vote over Kreun. The race was among the most competitive in this year’s election. Winning it will help the DFL as it tries to protect its one-seat advantage in the Minnesota Senate.

Democratic state Rep. Lucy Rehm has won reelection in Minnesota House District 48B, according to the Associated Press. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Rehm has 55 percent of the vote, beating Republican Caleb Steffenhagen.

Rehm’s margin of over 2,000 votes represents a stark contrast to her narrow 225-vote win over Steffenhagen back in 2024.

With 100% of precincts reporting, per the Associated Press, Democrat Jason Heaser defeated Republican state Rep. Danny Nadeau in a suburban district that was a DFL target in this midterm election. DFL state Sen. John Hoffman’s senate district will now be represented in the state House by Nadeau and state Rep. Xp Lee, who won a special election last year.