The latest: Election Day 2026

A crowd of about 100 supporters of U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad gathered in the Sleepy Eye Event Center for the Republican’s election night party. There’s a relaxed atmosphere in the room, while screens are tuned into Fox News, as the conservative network broadcasts election results from races all over the country.

The incumbent was shown to be in a tight race with DFL challenger Jake Johnson and maintains a slight lead, though not all votes have been counted. After polls closed at 8 p.m. Finstad met with reporters and said he felt “excitement” and that he remains hopeful that he will win reelection.

“I’m very optimistic. I am by nature grateful,” Finstad said. “I’m very grateful, humbled … what an honor to represent 750,000 people in southern Minnesota, and to walk up our national’s Capitol steps and go in knowing that I have a yes or no vote on behalf of them, and here I am asking for that opportunity for another two years, and I’ve just been overwhelmed by the support all over the district.”

The stakes are high as this race for Minnesota’s 1st congressional district is one of the most competitive races in the country. If Johnson unseats Finstad, it could help Democrats win control of the U.S. House. The district was thought to be solidly Republican, but the Rochester math teacher has been closing the gap in polls with Finstad in recent weeks.

Despite the possibility of losing control of the House, Finstad said if he is reelected, he’s committed to bipartisan collaboration.

“I will work with anybody and everybody that is focused on making our country better, and specifically, if we have an opportunity to make southern Minnesota just a little bit better for that next generation,” Finstad told reporters shortly after arriving at the event center.

He also noted the national attention and millions of dollars of outside money that poured into the race, most of it being spent on negative campaign ads.

“I think people are just sick of dysfunction in general in politics,” he said. “What we have seen this cycle, with again the negative ads … we need adults in the room now more than ever as a country. People are asking for that, and I look forward to being that adult in the room.”

As the election night polls closed in Minnesota Tuesday, statewide Republican candidates took the stage at a watch party in Bloomington to rally the crowd.

“This is a moment in history we’ve all been waiting for,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth told the crowd.

The mood shifted from cautiously optimistic to nervousness as partygoers watched Fox News report Democrats winning congressional seats in other states.

Hundreds of supporters gathered in Rochester to celebrate the conclusion of Jake Johnson’s campaign. He’s the political newcomer who is trying to unseat Republican incumbent Brad Finstad in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, which stretches across all of southern Minnesota.

Attendees seemed cautiously optimistic as they grabbed food and drinks and chatted at round tables in front of large screens displaying live coverage of the election results. When Johnson entered the room to greet his supporters shortly after the polls closed, the crowd cheered.

“I’m very proud of what we built here in southern Minnesota,” Johnson told his supporters while choking up a bit at the podium.

“We spent the day, as a lot of people have, knocking on doors, talking to our neighbors,” he said. “Me, my team, volunteers, everybody in this room has absolutely left nothing on the field, right? And so we didn't stop. My team didn't stop.”

This race is one of the most competitive in the country, and the stakes are high. A Johnson win could help Democrats take back the U.S. House.

The southern Minnesota district was initially thought to be solidly Republican but recent polls showed Johnson, a high school math teacher, edging closer to Finstad.

The Democrat has been leveraging President Donald Trump’s growing unpopularity and attacking Finstad’s record, including his support for data centers, his votes to cut Medicaid funding, and his backing of the war with Iran that has led to soaring diesel prices.

“I wish I had fantastic news to share with you right at this moment,” Johnson said. “But I'll just say, right now, we are encouraged. We are excited by what we are seeing with the early vote totals coming in. And as we know more information, as the votes become clear, I will be back out with what I certainly hope is a victory speech.”

State officials say that voting on Tuesday went smoothly at precincts across the state.

Observers from the U.S. Department of Justice were on the ground in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Monitors with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office were also present with the federal monitors to ensure they complied with state law.

Advocates who organized election monitoring say they did not receive any reports of election interference by federal authorities.

Voters dashed through downpours to cast their ballots all day long in Blaine and Columbia Heights, undeterred by the rainfall. In Columbia Heights in particular, many voters said they were determined to vote to counter what happened 10 months ago here in the bitter cold and snow.

Voters scurried into Valley View Elementary School in Columbia Heights Tuesday, mindful of the fact that several of the school’s students and their families were targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement actions in January and February of this year.

One man who had just voted chose not to share his name. But he said he was motivated to vote by the aggressive federal immigration enforcement actions in the state, particularly in Columbia Heights. Having lived in a communist country, he does not want a similar situation to develop in the United States. He said what happened with ICE in Minnesota should not occur here.

Several other voters in Columbia Heights also told MPR News that federal immigration enforcement actions motivated them to head to the polls. Logan Bender, 31, a Columbia Heights resident, said, “it's a lot of issues all mixed together, but relevant to Minnesota would be condemning ICE actions.” He also cited the affordable housing crisis, the economy and high inflation, and concerns about keeping water unpolluted from data centers as additional reasons for his vote.

At Eagle Brook Church in Blaine, people hurried to and from their vehicles to avoid getting soaked, and a line formed in the church's entryway. Among them was a young woman who appeared to be proud to be voting for the first time.

Katie Landwehr, head election judge at Valley View Elementary School, said the flow of voters has been very steady at the school today.

“We had all of the booths filled right away at 7 a.m. this morning,” Landwehr said. “We had a line up, waiting to go and just people have been steady going through. So, we've been very happy to see good old turnout.”

Landwehr also noted that many senior citizens braved the rain to vote, and the booths remained busy later in the afternoon.

Alice Koski, 74, said she voted primarily due to healthcare issues and the rising costs of gas and food.

“I was just in the hospital. I just got released and diagnosed with diabetes, type 2, so I had quite a scare,” Koski said. “It was very important for me to come here and be here. I said, ’Come hell or high water, I'm coming to vote!’ Same with hubby.”

Her husband, Virgil Koski, 77, echoed her sentiment, saying he felt he had “little choice in what’s happening” in the U.S. and that it was important for him to have a say. “I figure it's your right to vote, so you have to vote,” Virgil Koski said.

Minnesota polls officially closed at 8 p.m., but the state allows people who are in line now to vote — even if you don’t reach the front of the line until after 8 p.m.

Early voting for this year’s midterm election continues to hit a record high in Minnesota. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office reported more than 1,004,125 ballots cast through 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Of the early ballots cast, 298,998 were by mail and 705,127 were cast in person.

Minnesota polls close Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic nominee for Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat, cast her ballot for the 2026 midterm elections around noon Tuesday in St. Louis Park.

She came out of the polling place and said it was “pretty special” to vote with her 13-year-old daughter, Siobhan, by her side.

Flanagan would be the first Native American woman to serve in the Senate if elected. She is one of a handful of Indigenous women running in high-profile races across the country.

“I would say that my hope is that there are young Native people all across Indian Country who see that if Auntie Peggy can do it, they can do it too,” Flanagan said. “Native women have been leaders since time immemorial, and now we're able to run, and, my hope is, win all across the country.”

Flanagan said she is proud of her campaign for senator.

“We've done a lot of good work over the last 627 days, and now it's up to the voters of Minnesota,” she said.

Her opponent Michele Tafoya voted early on Monday at Edina City Hall.

The Hermantown City Council’s controversial vote Friday night to approve Google’s plan to build a massive data center in town appears to be driving high election day turnout in the city outside of Duluth.

At the Hermantown Government Services Center, a steady stream of voters went inside to cast their ballots all day long, and turnout appeared very strong. That’s not unusual in Hermantown, where voter turnout tends to be very high — typically over 80 percent, even for non Presidential midterm elections like this one.

And virtually every voter who spoke with MPR News reporter Dan Kraker said the data center is a very important issue. And this held true for both liberal Democratic voters as well as conservative Republicans.

Jack Liabraaten, 81, said he voted Republican and that immigration is a big issue for him. And like many Hermantown voters, he was wearing a “No Data Center” button.

"It's just one of those things that's being shoved down our throats,” Liabraaten said. “We'll be about three miles from it, and a lot of the people that are not affected that much by it, of course, they want it because it's jobs and stuff like that. But there's plenty of places to put the data centers without putting them in semi-residential areas.”

Lifelong Hermantown resident Leann Fahlsing said she is angry with city officials for how they handled this project. Several of them signed non-disclosure agreements, keeping details about the project secret, and local residents in the dark for months.

"I personally don't know if I'm for or against the data center,” Fahlsing told MPR News. “But what I am against is the lack of transparency, the idea that a lot of this happened underground, basically, before anybody knew anything that was happening. And in my mind, they have already made the decision before anything was brought to the public."

The data center proposal, which is now being challenged in court, is is a big issue in city council races in Hermantown. Three political newcomers are running for seats on the council, and each says they were motivated to run by the data center. They've all criticized the city for a lack of transparency around the development.

Hermantown is also home to one of state legislative races that could decide which party controls the state Legislature.

The battle for senate district 3 is a rematch of the 2022 race, in which Democratic state senator Grant Hauschild narrowly won by just 703 votes over Republican Andrea Zupancich, who is the mayor of Babbitt. The district is huge geographically, stretching from the townships surrounding Duluth, up the North Shore of Lake Superior and west along the Canadian border.

This race is expected to be very close, and one common theme voters from both parties shared is their disgust for all the negative ads that have inundated them. Outside groups trying to sway voters have spent well over one million dollars on the race.

"Why can't people just come out, say what they stand for, say what they want, say what they want to do and not have to pick at the person they're running against?” asked Lori Rossiter of Hermantown, who said she voted Democratic. “I mean, can't we be adults and Americans and be kind to people and just say what you want to do?”

As Minnesotans headed to the polls on Tuesday, some paid tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens who were killed by federal agents in January in Minneapolis, by leaving their “I voted” stickers at their respective memorials.

Minneapolis resident Peg Ihinger, who affixed her early voting sticker to a picture at Pretti’s memorial, said she’s glad people are “really fired up to vote.”

“I just want this nightmare to end for our city and for our country,” she said. “And damn it, they shouldn’t have died. None of them should have died.”

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