2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota

2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota

← 2012 November 8, 2016 2020 →
Turnout	74.72%[1]
Nominee Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Home state New York New York Running mate Tim Kaine Mike Pence Electoral vote 10 0 Popular vote 1,367,825 1,323,232 Percentage 46.44% 44.93%
County Results Congressional District Results Precinct Results Clinton   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Trump   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Johnson   90–100% Tie/No Data
President before election Barack Obama Democratic (DFL) Elected President Donald Trump Republican

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v t e

The 2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Minnesota voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against DFL nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. Minnesota has ten electoral votes in the Electoral College.^[2]

Despite Trump flipping numerous Midwestern states, some of which had not voted Republican since the 1980s, Minnesota was still won with a plurality by Clinton with a 1.51% margin, the eleventh consecutive Democratic presidential win in the state, which has not voted for a Republican since the landslide reelection of Richard Nixon in 1972. However, this was the closest presidential election in Minnesota since 1984, when Walter Mondale carried the state by a 0.18% margin and it was the only state not carried by Ronald Reagan that year. The state also voted to the right of the national average for the first time since 1952, with Trump flipping nineteen counties. Minnesota had the highest voter turnout in the nation, with approximately 75% of the state's eligible voters participating in the general election.^[1] One elector, Muhammud Abdurrahan, tried to vote for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont but was replaced with an elector that voted for Clinton.

As of the 2024 election, this is the most recent election where Clay County voted Republican and the only election since 1952 where Minnesota voted more Republican than the national popular vote.

Bernie Sanders received the most votes and the most delegates in the precinct caucuses.^[3] The 2016 turnout was slightly lower than the 2008 tally of 214,066, when Obama won with 142,109 votes, to Clinton's 68,994. Bernie Sanders won every congressional district in Minnesota.^[4]

Minnesota Democratic caucuses, March 1, 2016
Candidate	Popular vote		Estimated delegates
	Count	Percentage	Pledged	Unpledged	Total
Bernie Sanders	126,229	61.69%	46	1	47
Hillary Clinton	78,381	38.31%	31	13	44
Uncommitted	—		0	2	2
Total	204,610	100%	77	16	93
Source: [5]

The 38 delegates from Minnesota were allocated in this way. If a candidate received more than 85% of the vote, they would get all of 38 delegates. Otherwise, 24 delegates would be allocated proportionally based on the votes per congressional district (3 votes per district). On top of that, there were 10 at-large delegates and 3 party leaders (the National Committee Man, the National Committee woman, and the chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party). All of the at-large delegates were allocated proportionally based on the popular vote with a mandatory threshold of 10% to receive any delegates; if no one got at least 10%, all candidates would be eligible to get delegates.^[6]

2016 Minnesota Republican caucuses results

Candidate		Votes	Percentage	Delegates
	Marco Rubio	41,397	36.24%	17
	Ted Cruz	33,181	29.04%	13
	Donald Trump	24,473	21.42%	8
	Ben Carson	8,422	7.37%	0
	John Kasich	6,565	5.75%	0
	Write-ins	207	0.18%	0
	Total	114,245	100.00%	38
Source: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State

Some media outlets recorded the votes by congressional district, rather than by county. Rubio won districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area as well as the southern part of the state. Cruz won districts 6, 7 and 8 in the St. Cloud area and rural north.^[4]

The Green Party of Minnesota held caucuses on March 1 in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Bemidji, White Bear Lake, Blaine, Grand Rapids, and Willmar.^[7] Jill Stein won the caucuses with 84.3% of the vote. The delegates apportioned to each candidate will be decided at the state convention in St. Cloud, Minnesota in June.^[8] The results of the caucuses are as follows:^[9]

Minnesota Green Party presidential caucus, March 1, 2016^[10][11]

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	National delegates
Jill Stein	-	84.3%	7
Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry	-	5.9%	-
William Kreml	-	4.8%	-
Darryl Cherney	-	3.6%	-
Kent Mesplay	-	1.2%	-
Total	-	100.00%	7

The Minnesota caucus was run on March 1, 2016, using ranked choice voting. Gary Johnson took over 75% of the 226 first-preference votes cast, with John McAfee a distant second on 11.5% and Austin Petersen third on 7.5%.^[12]

Minnesota Libertarian Party presidential caucus, March 1, 2016^[13]

Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Gary Johnson	171	75.66%
John McAfee	26	11.50%
Austin Petersen	17	7.52%
Darryl Perry	4	1.77%
Cecil Ince	2	0.88%
Steve Kerbel	2	0.88%
None of the above	2	0.88%
Marc Allan Feldman	1	0.44%
Shawna Joy Sterling	1	0.44%
Total	226	100.00%

Source	Ranking	As of
Los Angeles Times[14]	Likely D	November 6, 2016
CNN[15]	Safe D	November 4, 2016
Cook Political Report[16]	Likely D	November 7, 2016
Electoral-vote.com[17]	Lean D	November 8, 2016
Rothenberg Political Report[18]	Likely D	November 7, 2016
Sabato's Crystal Ball[19]	Likely D	November 7, 2016
RealClearPolitics[20]	Lean D	November 8, 2016
Fox News[21]	Lean D	November 7, 2016

Clinton won almost every pre-election poll in Minnesota by margins ranging from 5 to 11 points. Trump won one poll in November 2015, 45% to 42%, and one poll in September 2016 showed a tie. The average of the last two polls had Clinton up 50% to 41%.^[22] The last poll had Clinton up 53% to 42%.

The following had write-in status:^[23]

Dennis Andrew Ball and Richard Sanders Henry Bartlett and Condoleezza Rice Robert L. Buchanan and Jason A. Washington Richard Duncan and Ricky Johnson Cherunda Fox and Roger Kushner Eric Gerhard and Ken Virnig Joseph Glentz and Mike Hennessy Ben Hartnell and Dave Marshall Tom Hoefling and Steve Schulin Alec Holbeck and John Hulet James Hrenak Jr and Lauren Rasmussen Alan Jacquemotte and Ronalee Evelyn Mueller Lynn Kahn and Kathy Monahan Chris Keniston and Deacon Taylor Roger Koplitz and John Kerry Laurence Kotlikoff and Edward Leamer Gloria La Riva and Eugene Puryear Johnson Immanuel Li and Aida Yuquimpo Li Darin Lynch and Jaci Dukowitz Joseph Maldonado and Douglas Terranova Srinivasa K Mallapadi and Sripriya Mallapadi Michael Andrew Maturen and Juan Antonio Munoz

Stephen J. McCarthy and Joyce Meyer Daniel Muffoletto and Jesse Ventura Michael S Olkowski and Daniel E Olkowski Aaron Idean Orwick and Brad Alan Fredricks Micah Payeur and Joshua Payeur Ricky J. Regenold and James Kolden Clifton Roberts and Breeze Harper Matthew Roberts and Charles Clauss Platt Robertson and Scott Falls Marshall Schoenke and James Mitchell Jr. Joe Schriner and Joe Moreaux Derrick Schumacher and Ross Wendling Arthur E. Sidner and Sandra Arcement Michael L. "Mike" Smith and Daniel White Keith Richard Snell and Russell LeBeau Emidio Soltysik and Angela Walker J. J. Vogel Walcutt and Chris Walcutt Kirk Wettschreck and Lori Motzko Jeffrey Ryan Wharton Sr. and Amy Klobuchar Jerome S White (Jerry White) and Niles Niemuth Demetra Jefferson Wysinger and Cedric D. Jefferson Charles R. Zerilli and Ajamu Baraka

2016 United States presidential election in Minnesota[24]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic (DFL)	Hillary Clinton	Tim Kaine	1,367,716	46.44%	10
	Republican	Donald Trump	Mike Pence	1,322,951	44.92%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	William Weld	112,972	3.84%	0
	Independence	Evan McMullin	Nathan Johnson	53,076	1.80%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Howie Hawkins	36,985	1.26%	0
	Legal Marijuana Now	Dan Vacek	Mark Elworth, Jr.	11,291	0.38%	0
	Constitution	Darrell Castle	Scott Bradley	9,456	0.32%	0
	Socialist Workers	Alyson Kennedy	Osborne Hart	1,672	0.06%	0
	American Delta	Rocky De La Fuente	Michael Steinberg	1,431	0.05%	0
	Write-Ins			27,263	0.93%	0
Total				2,944,813	100%	10

County[25]	Hillary Clinton DFL		Donald Trump Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Aitkin	3,134	33.95%	5,516	59.76%	581	6.29%	-2,382	-25.81%	9,231
Anoka	75,500	40.64%	93,339	50.25%	16,919	9.11%	-17,839	-9.61%	185,758
Becker	5,208	30.24%	10,880	63.18%	1,134	6.58%	-5,672	-32.94%	17,222
Beltrami	8,688	40.29%	10,783	50.00%	2,093	9.71%	-2,095	-9.71%	21,564
Benton	5,640	28.12%	12,872	64.17%	1,546	7.71%	-7,232	-36.05%	20,058
Big Stone	921	33.43%	1,608	58.37%	226	8.20%	-687	-24.94%	2,755
Blue Earth	14,428	42.95%	15,667	46.64%	3,498	10.41%	-1,239	-3.69%	33,593
Brown	3,763	27.31%	8,708	63.20%	1,308	9.49%	-4,945	-35.89%	13,779
Carlton	8,460	46.46%	8,160	44.81%	1,591	8.73%	300	1.65%	18,211
Carver	21,508	38.62%	29,056	52.17%	5,132	9.21%	-7,548	-13.55%	55,696
Cass	4,949	30.93%	9,982	62.39%	1,068	6.68%	-5,033	-31.46%	15,999
Chippewa	1,978	31.79%	3,764	60.50%	480	7.71%	-1,786	-28.71%	6,222
Chisago	9,278	30.69%	18,441	61.01%	2,509	8.30%	-9,163	-30.32%	30,228
Clay	12,971	44.12%	13,543	46.07%	2,884	9.81%	-572	-1.95%	29,398
Clearwater	1,100	25.91%	2,925	68.90%	220	5.19%	-1,825	-42.99%	4,245
Cook	1,912	56.32%	1,156	34.05%	327	9.63%	756	22.27%	3,395
Cottonwood	1,678	29.33%	3,679	64.31%	364	6.36%	-2,001	-34.98%	5,721
Crow Wing	10,982	30.64%	22,287	62.18%	2,573	7.18%	-11,305	-31.54%	35,842
Dakota	110,592	47.70%	99,864	43.07%	21,404	9.23%	10,728	4.63%	231,860
Dodge	3,102	29.12%	6,527	61.26%	1,025	9.62%	-3,425	-32.14%	10,654
Douglas	6,227	28.58%	13,966	64.11%	1,592	7.31%	-7,739	-35.53%	21,785
Faribault	2,153	29.05%	4,659	62.86%	600	8.09%	-2,506	-33.81%	7,412
Fillmore	3,872	35.02%	6,271	56.73%	912	8.25%	-2,399	-21.71%	11,055
Freeborn	6,041	37.64%	8,808	54.88%	1,202	7.48%	-2,767	-17.24%	16,051
Goodhue	9,446	36.73%	14,041	54.60%	2,230	8.67%	-4,595	-17.87%	25,717
Grant	1,105	31.82%	2,063	59.40%	305	8.78%	-958	-27.58%	3,473
Hennepin	429,288	63.13%	191,770	28.20%	58,919	8.67%	237,518	34.93%	679,977
Houston	4,145	39.09%	5,616	52.96%	843	7.95%	-1,471	-13.87%	10,604
Hubbard	3,423	29.75%	7,261	63.11%	821	7.14%	-3,838	-33.36%	11,505
Isanti	5,657	26.92%	13,635	64.88%	1,724	8.20%	-7,978	-37.96%	21,016
Itasca	9,015	37.75%	12,920	54.10%	1,945	8.15%	-3,905	-16.35%	23,880
Jackson	1,492	27.21%	3,609	65.81%	383	6.98%	-2,117	-38.60%	5,484
Kanabec	2,327	28.46%	5,230	63.96%	620	7.58%	-2,903	-35.50%	8,177
Kandiyohi	7,266	33.37%	12,785	58.72%	1,721	7.91%	-5,519	-25.35%	21,772
Kittson	823	34.51%	1,349	56.56%	213	8.93%	-526	-22.05%	2,385
Koochiching	2,306	36.24%	3,569	56.09%	488	7.67%	-1,263	-19.85%	6,363
Lac Qui Parle	1,305	33.81%	2,293	59.40%	262	6.79%	-988	-25.59%	3,860
Lake	3,077	47.19%	2,932	44.96%	512	7.85%	145	2.23%	6,521
Lake of the Woods	553	24.67%	1,540	68.69%	149	6.64%	-987	-44.02%	2,242
Le Sueur	4,623	30.88%	9,182	61.33%	1,166	7.79%	-4,559	-30.45%	14,971
Lincoln	860	28.49%	1,931	63.96%	228	7.55%	-1,071	-35.47%	3,019
Lyon	3,825	31.31%	7,256	59.40%	1,134	9.29%	-3,431	-28.09%	12,215
McLeod	4,978	26.47%	12,155	64.63%	1,674	8.90%	-7,177	-38.16%	18,807
Mahnomen	930	44.54%	991	47.46%	167	8.00%	-61	-2.92%	2,088
Marshall	1,225	25.43%	3,208	66.60%	384	7.97%	-1,983	-41.17%	4,817
Martin	2,733	25.95%	7,062	67.06%	736	6.99%	-4,329	-41.11%	10,531
Meeker	3,191	25.98%	8,104	65.98%	987	8.04%	-4,913	-40.00%	12,282
Mille Lacs	3,710	28.50%	8,340	64.07%	967	7.43%	-4,630	-35.57%	13,017
Morrison	3,637	20.65%	12,925	73.38%	1,052	5.97%	-9,288	-52.73%	17,614
Mower	7,437	41.98%	8,823	49.81%	1,455	8.21%	-1,386	-7.83%	17,715
Murray	1,295	27.74%	2,974	63.71%	399	8.55%	-1,679	-35.97%	4,668
Nicollet	7,886	43.58%	8,437	46.62%	1,774	9.80%	-551	-3.04%	18,097
Nobles	2,733	31.66%	5,299	61.39%	600	6.95%	-2,566	-29.73%	8,632
Norman	1,264	38.76%	1,699	52.10%	298	9.14%	-435	-13.34%	3,261
Olmsted	36,268	45.26%	35,668	44.51%	8,193	10.23%	600	0.75%	80,129
Otter Tail	9,340	28.74%	20,939	64.43%	2,221	6.83%	-11,599	-35.69%	32,500
Pennington	2,147	31.97%	4,000	59.57%	568	8.46%	-1,853	-27.60%	6,715
Pine	4,580	33.16%	8,191	59.31%	1,040	7.53%	-3,611	-26.15%	13,811
Pipestone	1,127	23.44%	3,338	69.43%	343	7.13%	-2,211	-45.99%	4,808
Polk	4,712	31.85%	8,979	60.69%	1,105	7.46%	-4,267	-28.84%	14,796
Pope	2,106	33.33%	3,793	60.03%	420	6.64%	-1,687	-26.70%	6,319
Ramsey	177,738	65.07%	70,894	25.95%	24,511	8.98%	106,844	39.12%	273,143
Red Lake	540	28.71%	1,141	60.66%	200	10.63%	-601	-31.95%	1,881
Redwood	1,887	24.79%	5,137	67.49%	587	7.72%	-3,250	-42.70%	7,611
Renville	2,117	27.83%	4,890	64.29%	599	7.88%	-2,773	-36.46%	7,606
Rice	14,437	44.50%	15,429	47.56%	2,577	7.94%	-992	-3.06%	32,443
Rock	1,373	28.37%	3,091	63.88%	375	7.75%	-1,718	-35.51%	4,839
Roseau	1,856	23.78%	5,451	69.85%	497	6.37%	-3,595	-46.07%	7,804
St. Louis	57,771	51.39%	44,630	39.70%	10,021	8.91%	13,141	11.69%	112,422
Scott	28,502	37.99%	39,948	53.24%	6,579	8.77%	-11,446	-15.25%	75,029
Sherburne	13,293	27.53%	31,053	64.31%	3,937	8.16%	-17,760	-36.78%	48,283
Sibley	1,954	25.14%	5,193	66.80%	627	8.06%	-3,239	-41.66%	7,774
Stearns	25,576	32.13%	47,617	59.83%	6,399	8.04%	-22,041	-27.70%	79,592
Steele	6,241	32.54%	11,198	58.39%	1,740	9.07%	-4,957	-25.85%	19,179
Stevens	2,116	39.20%	2,799	51.85%	483	8.95%	-683	-12.65%	5,398
Swift	1,686	33.76%	2,963	59.33%	345	6.91%	-1,277	-25.57%	4,994
Todd	2,783	23.21%	8,485	70.75%	725	6.04%	-5,702	-47.54%	11,993
Traverse	630	35.04%	1,049	58.34%	119	6.62%	-419	-23.30%	1,798
Wabasha	3,866	32.67%	6,989	59.07%	977	8.26%	-3,123	-26.40%	11,832
Wadena	1,684	24.29%	4,837	69.76%	413	5.95%	-3,153	-45.47%	6,934
Waseca	2,838	29.40%	5,967	61.81%	848	8.79%	-3,129	-32.41%	9,653
Washington	67,086	46.51%	64,428	44.67%	12,721	8.82%	2,658	1.84%	144,235
Watonwan	1,814	36.29%	2,768	55.38%	416	8.33%	-954	-19.09%	4,998
Wilkin	893	27.04%	2,129	64.48%	280	8.48%	-1,236	-37.44%	3,302
Winona	11,366	43.59%	12,122	46.49%	2,586	9.92%	-756	-2.90%	26,074
Wright	20,334	29.21%	43,274	62.16%	6,010	8.63%	-22,940	-32.95%	69,618
Yellow Medicine	1,524	28.89%	3,382	64.10%	370	7.01%	-1,858	-35.21%	5,276
Totals	1,367,825	46.44%	1,323,232	44.93%	254,176	8.63%	44,593	1.51%	2,945,233

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

^[26]

• Beltrami (largest city: Bemidji)
• Blue Earth (largest city: Mankato)
• Chippewa (largest city: Montevideo)
• Clay (largest city: Moorhead)
• Fillmore (largest city: Spring Valley)
• Freeborn (largest city: Albert Lea)
• Houston (largest city: La Crescent)
• Itasca (largest city: Grand Rapids)
• Kittson (largest city: Hallock)
• Koochiching (largest city: International Falls)
• Lac qui Parle (largest city: Madison)
• Mahnomen (largest city: Mahnomen)
• Mower (largest city: Austin)
• Nicollet (largest city: North Mankato)
• Norman (largest city: Ada)
• Rice (largest city: Faribault)
• Swift (largest city: Benson)
• Traverse (largest city: Wheaton)
• Winona (largest city: Winona)

Trump won 5 of 8 congressional districts, including three held by Democrats, while Clinton won the other three, including one held by a Republican.^[27]

District	Clinton	Trump	Representative
1st	38%	53%	Tim Walz
2nd	45%	46%	Jason Lewis
3rd	50%	41%	Erik Paulsen
4th	61%	30%	Betty McCollum
5th	73%	18%	Keith Ellison
6th	33%	59%	Tom Emmer
7th	31%	61%	Collin Peterson
8th	38%	54%	Rick Nolan

^[28]

Minnesota voted 6.2 percent less Democratic from the 2012 presidential election, a much larger shift than the nation at large. Donald Trump only increased his vote tally compared to Mitt Romney in 2012 by 2,726 votes which resulted in a percentage of vote loss of 0.04%. The difference in Democratic voting was largely attributed to Independent or Write-In candidates. The most significant Independent gains went to Gary Johnson with 3.84 percent of the vote (+2.64% over 2012), Evan McMullin with 1.8 percent of the vote (he was not a candidate in 2012), and Jill Stein with 1.26 percent of the vote (+0.82% over 2012). These three candidates account for 5.26 percent of the swing. This election marked the first time since 1952 that the Democratic candidate performed worse in Minnesota than in the nation at large. Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by 2.1 points but won Minnesota by just 1.5 points, or 44,593 votes. Minnesota has been a primarily Democratic state in national elections since 1932.

Due to Independent and Write-In gains throughout the state, Clinton was dependent on her wins in Hennepin (Minneapolis) and Ramsey (St. Paul) counties, the two most populous counties in the state, and the Arrowhead Region in the northeastern corner of the state.^[29] Trump's votes came from less populated, rural counties. Two counties, Morrison and Todd, gave Trump over 70% of the vote, making this the first election since 1968 where either major party candidate won a county with over 70%, with Trump also being the first Republican to do so since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.

Trump was also the first Republican to receive a majority of votes in Itasca County since Herbert Hoover in 1928,^[30] the first to win Swift County since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, and the first to win Mower County since Richard Nixon against John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Nonetheless, he became the first-ever Republican to win the White House without carrying Olmsted County. Due to the close margin of victory in the state, Republicans had targeted Minnesota as a potential swing state target for the 2020 United States presidential election.^[31]

• United States presidential elections in Minnesota
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries

• David Weigel; Lauren Tierney (September 13, 2020). "The five political states of Minnesota". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020.

• RNC 2016 Republican Nominating Process Archived 2016-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
• Decision Desk Headquarter Results for Minnesota
• Minnesota Secretary Of State - Historical Voter Turnout Statistics