2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota

The 2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota will be held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Minnesota, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and other state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tina Smith is running for election to a full term in office.

2020 United States Senate election in Minnesota

November 3, 2020

Nominee Tina Smith Jason Lewis Party Democratic (DFL) Republican

Incumbent U.S. senator Tina Smith Democratic (DFL)

The filing deadline for all candidates was June 2, 2020.[1] The primary will take place on August 11.[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Tina Smith, incumbent U.S. Senator[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Steve Carlson, Democratic candidate in the 2018 United States Senate election in Minnesota and write-in candidate for president in 2016[4][5][1]
• Ahmad Hassan[1]
• Paula Overby, Green Party candidate for Senate in 2018[6][1]
• Christopher Seymore, Sr.[1]

Withdrawn

• W.D. "Bill" Hamm[7][1]
• Alexandra Marie Holker[4][8][1]

Endorsements

Tina Smith

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator from Minnesota; former 2020 presidential candidate[9] Organizations Brady Campaign[10] Council for a Livable World[11] EMILY's List[12] End Citizens United[13] Everytown for Gun Safety[14] Feminist Majority PAC[15] Giffords[16] Human Rights Campaign[17] J Street PAC[18] Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs[19] League of Conservation Voters[20] NARAL Pro-Choice America[21] National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare[22] National Organization for Women[23] Planned Parenthood Action Fund[24] Population Connection[25] Stonewall DFL[26] Women's Political Committee[27] Women Winning[28] Labor unions Education Minnesota[29] Minnesota State AFL–CIO[30]

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic (DFL)	Tina Smith (incumbent)	497,301	87.1%
	Democratic (DFL)	Paula Overby	30,486	5.3%
	Democratic (DFL)	Ahmad Hassan	20,033	3.5%
	Democratic (DFL)	Steve Carlson	16,399	2.9%
	Democratic (DFL)	Christopher Seymore	6,475	1.1%
Total votes			570,694	100.0%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Jason Lewis, former U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 2nd congressional district[31]

Eliminated in primary

• John L. Berman[1]
• Bob Carney Jr.[1][32]
• Cynthia Gail
• James Reibestein[1]

Withdrawn

• Rob Barrett Jr., assistant professor at North Central University[33][1]
• Christopher Chamberlin, candidate for Governor, U.S. Senator, and U.S. House of Representative in 2018 and libertarian activist[34][1]
• Forest Hyatt, Republican candidate for the 2018 United States Senate special election in Minnesota[4][35][1]
• Theron Preston Washington[36][1]

Declined

• Donna Bergstrom, nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota in 2018[37]
• Kurt Daudt, minority leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives[38]
• Bill Guidera, attorney and former 21st Century Fox executive[39]
• Karin Housley, state senator and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018[40]
• Mike Lindell, CEO of My Pillow[41]
• Doug Wardlow, former state representative and Republican nominee for Attorney General of Minnesota in 2018[42]

Endorsements

Jason Lewis
Donald Trump, President of the United States[43] Republican Party of Minnesota[44]

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jason Lewis	190,891	78.1%
	Republican	Cynthia Gail	17,626	7.2%
	Republican	John Berman	16,130	6.6%
	Republican	Bob Carney Jr.	10,478	4.3%
	Republican	James Reibestein	9,188	3.8%
Total votes			244,313	100.0%

Other candidates

Grassroots Party

Nominee

• Oliver Steinberg [1]

Independents

Declared

• Kevin O'Connor[1]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[45]	Safe D	July 23, 2020
Inside Elections[46]	Safe D	July 10, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[47]	Likely D	August 5, 2020
Daily Kos[48]	Likely D	July 22, 2020
Politico[49]	Likely D	July 6, 2020
RCP[50]	Lean D	August 6, 2020
Niskanen[51]	Safe D	July 26, 2020
270towin[52]	Likely D	August 6, 2020

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Tina Smith (D)	Jason Lewis (R)	Other / Undecided
Emerson College	August 8–10, 2020	733 (LV)	± 3.6%	48%	45%	7%
Public Policy Polling	July 22–23, 2020	1,218 (V)	± 3.2%	48%	39%	13%

Results

United States Senate election in Minnesota, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic (DFL)	Tina Smith (incumbent)
	Republican	Jason Lewis
	Grassroots	Oliver Steinberg
	Independent	Kevin O'Connor
Total votes				100.0%

See also

• 2020 Minnesota elections

References

1. "Minnesota 2020 Senate Candidate List". June 2, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
2. Montgomery, David H. "Primary primer: What you need to know about Minnesota's August election". MPR News. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
3. Keen, Judy (July 9, 2018). "Tina Smith faces tough challengers in fight to keep U.S. Senate seat". Star Tribune. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
4. "Minnesota Senate 2020 race". Open Secrets. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
5. "Minnesota". The Washington Times. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
6. https://www.wtip.org/former-green-party-candidate-overby-seek-dfl-endorsement
7. "Bill Hamm announces candidacy for US Senate". Kanabec County Times. December 6, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
8. "The Green Papers: Minnesota 2020 General Election". The Green Papers. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
9. "The Win Big Project".
10. Brown, Kris (September 12, 2019). "Brady Endorses Sen. Tina Smith, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and Rep. Ben Ray Luján for U.S. Senate". Brady.
11. "Senate Candidates - Council for a Livable World". Council for a Livable World.
12. "EMILY's List Endorses Senator Tina Smith for Re-Election". Emily's List. January 31, 2019.
13. Muller, Tiffany (August 27, 2019). "End Citizens United Endorses Four U.S. Senators for Reelection". End Citizens United.
14. "Everytown For Gun Safety Action Fund Endorses Tina Smith For U.S. Senate in Minnesota". Everytown. June 9, 2020.
15. "2020 – Feminist Majority PAC". feministmajoritypac.org.
16. "Giffords Endorses Slate of Senators Running to Bring a Gun Safety Majority to the US Senate". Giffords. May 8, 2020.
17. Acosta, Lucas (August 26, 2019). "HRC Endorses Senator Tina Smith for Reelection| Human Rights Campaign". Human Rights Campaign.
18. "JStreetPAC Candidates". JStreetPAC.
19. "Meet the 2020 Candidates". Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs.
20. Burke, Holly (June 18, 2019). "LCV Action Fund Endorses Senator Tina Smith for Re-Election". League of Conservation Voters. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
21. "NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Senator Tina Smith for Re-election- NARAL Pro-Choice America". NARAL Pro-Choice America. September 23, 2019.
22. "Candidates We Endorse and Support". NCPSSM.
23. "2020 Federal Endorsements - NOW PAC". nowpac.org.
24. Axelrod, Tal (October 10, 2019). "Planned Parenthood issues first wave of 2020 House, Senate endorsements". TheHill.
25. "2020 Endorsements". Population Connection.
26. "2020 Endorsed Candidates - Stonewall DFL". Stonewall DFL.
27. "Federal Endorsed Candidates 2019-2020". Women's Political Committee.
28. "2020 Endorsed Candidates - Women Winning". Women Winning.
29. "Education Minnesota endorses Tina Smith for U.S. Senate". Education Minnesota.
30. "Minnesota AFL-CIO makes first round of 2020 election endorsements". www.mnaflcio.org. March 11, 2020.
31. "Jason Lewis to challenge Tina Smith for U.S. Senate seat". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
32. "Calling all (reasonable) Republicans to take your party back". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-06.
33. Van Oot, Torey. "Morning Hot Dish". Star Tribune.
34. Lewerenz, Jennifer (May 14, 2020). "STATE GOP CONVENTION TO BE HELD VIRTUALLY ON SATURDAY". KNSI Radio. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
35. Murphy, Esme (February 9, 2020). "Talking Points: Former Congressman Jason Lewis Discusses Senate Run". CBS Minnesota. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
36. "Financial summary". Retrieved 2019-10-24.
37. Cohen, Zach C. (December 5, 2018). "Recent LG Nominee Considering Smith Challenge". National Journal. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
38. Croman, John (July 5, 2019). "Sen. Smith's next opponent is still unclear". Kare 11. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
39. Olson, Blois (2019-08-19). "Bill Guidera announces he's not running for #mnsen". @bloisolson. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
40. Bakst, Brian (July 2, 2019). "Housley passes on U.S. Senate rematch in 2020". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
41. Coolican, J. Patrick (March 7, 2019). "Morning Hot Dish". Star Tribune. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
42. Keith, Theo (2019-08-22). "Theo Keith on Twitter: "Republican Doug Wardlow, who was once considering his own bid for U.S. Senate in 2020, throws his support behind Jason Lewis, who announced his candidacy this morning."". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
43. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1292880641311334400
44. Darouni, Christian. "U.S. Senate Endorsement". mngop.com. Republican Party of Minnesota. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
45. "2020 Senate Race Ratings for April 19, 2019". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
46. "2020 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
47. "2020 Senate race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
48. "Daily Kos Elections releases initial Senate race ratings for 2020". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
49. "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
50. "Battle for White House". RCP. April 19, 2019.
51. "2020 Negative Partisanship and the 2020 Congressional Elections". Niskanen Center. April 28, 2020.
52. "2020 Senate Map Based on Polls". 270towin.com. August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 6, 2020.

External links

• Elections & Voting - Minnesota Secretary of State

Official campaign websites

• Jason Lewis (R) for Senate
• Tina Smith (DFL) for Senate