The Elusive Majority

By getting swept for a third straight cycle in the states’ four constitutional elections this week, Minnesota Republicans have now failed to win a majority of the vote in 46 consecutive statewide contests dating back to 1996. [Republicans were plurality winners in seven]. The DFL has won exactly half of these 46 elections with a majority, and 38 races overall. The last Republican to have majority support in a Minnesota statewide race was Governor Arne Carlson, winning 62.0 percent in 1994. Dating back to 1970, the GOP has won a majority in 14 of 100 statewide races, compared to four times that number – 56 – for the DFL.