Donald Trump looks to flip Minnesota, but Harris may extend state's streak voting Democrat since 1972
Voters in Minnesota are hitting their local polling places to cast votes in the 2024 election, with the headlining presidential showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump looming large for many.
More than 1 million early votes were logged in Minnesota as of Friday, according to Secretary of State Steve Simon. The state is traditionally among those with the highest voter turnouts in the country. It's actually on a three-cycle streak in first place in the U.S., nothing a "modern-day record" in the 2020 election, Simon said.
This year, Minnesota is worth 10 Electoral College votes. The state has had 10 Electoral College votes since 1964. It peaked at 12 votes from 1912 to 1928, and it had just four at its inaugural presidential election in 1860.
While the state's 10 votes don't represent the largest pool from the Midwest, the state has become one of only two reliably blue bastions for the Democratic Party, alongside Illinois, as Michigan and Wisconsin have proven battlegrounds in a number of recent contests.
Minnesota's 52-year streak voting for Democrats
No Republican candidate for president has won Minnesota since 1972. Polling averages showed Harris leading Trump by 4.7 percentage points going into Election Day, according to Real Clear Politics, which indicated that that streak looked likely to continue this year.
But Trump came within striking distance in 2016, narrowly losing by 1.5 points to Hillary Clinton and transformed the map, flipping rural counties that voted for President Barack Obama in 2012 in his favor, mirroring similar trends across the country. Trump lost the state by less than 45,000 votes in the 2016 election.
President Joe Biden then won by seven points four years later, though the county-by-county breakdown was mostly unchanged.
Nationally, Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck in the polls. The economy, abortion rights and the border are consistently top issues for voters.
