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The latest: Election Day 2026
Dan Kraker
Duluth

Democrats gain ground in northeast Minnesota, holding a Senate seat and flipping a House seat

A man poses for a portrait.
State Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-District 3 stands for a portrait Tuesday, October 20th, 2026 at the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center in Duluth, Minn. The American Indian Community Housing Organization and its community partners hosted state senate and state house candidates to talk about the current housing climate.
Derek Montgomery

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Democrat Grant Hauschild won a rematch in a swing state Senate district in Northeast Minnesota, defeating Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich by a 54 to 46 margin. Meanwhile, political newcomer, Democrat Aaron Schweiger, flipped a seat for the DFL in the state House by defeating Republican incumbent Natalie Zeleznikar.
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Democrats have retained a high-profile swing district in the state Senate in northeast Minnesota, while also flipping a seat in the state House that had been in Republican hands.

Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown, held on to his District 3 seat by defeating Republican challenger and Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich by a 54 to 46 margin.

It was a rematch from four years ago, when Hauschild won narrowly by only 703 votes, less than one percentage point.

Hauschild was often a swing vote in the narrowly divided Senate, where Democrats held only a one-seat advantage.

Both parties targeted the race, pouring well over $1 million in outside spending into the campaign. Attack ads and mailers flooded the district, to the dismay of voters like Lori Rossiter of Hermantown, who recalled receiving 10 campaign flyers in a single day.

"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?” said Rossiter outside a polling place. “Can't we be adults and Americans and be kind to people?”

Meanwhile, political newcomer Aaron Schweiger, also a Democrat from Hermantown, defeated incumbent Republican Natalie Zeleznikar for the House District 3B seat, which includes Two Harbors and the communities surrounding Duluth.

Schweiger, a real-estate developer, won with 53 percent of the votes.

Zeleznikar, a nursing home administrator from Fredenberg Township outside Duluth, was elected four years ago when she narrowly upset longtime DFL Rep. Mary Murphy, who had served in the House for 46 years.