REGIONAL- About 750 North Country voters reshaped the future of Minnesota state government on Tuesday, representing the winning margin for District 3 Senate DFL candidate Grant Hauschild that gave the DFL control of both houses of the legislature.
As the outcomes for the state’s 66 other Senate contests crystalized into a 33-33 split between the DFL and Republicans, statewide media zeroed in on the race between Hermantown council member Hauschild and Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich as the contest that would determine if the Republicans retained control of the Senate or not. The drama wasn’t settled until about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday when 18 outstanding Itasca County precincts finally reported their vote totals.
Hauschild beat Zupancich 21,717 to 20,975, a razor-thin margin of 50.82 percent to 49.08 percent.
Once the polls closed, a strong performance by Zupancich in early-reporting Koochiching County contributed to her early evening lead. But as the night wore on and more returns came in, Hauschild gradually made-up ground and took the lead. Hauschild scored a huge win in Cook County with 67.5 percent of the vote and held a 52.7 to 47.2 edge over Zupancich in Lake County.
The margin was narrower still in St. Louis County, with Hauschild besting Zupancich 13,685-12,872, 51.5 percent to 48.4 percent, but the late 1,220-813 boost Zupancich received from Itasca County wasn’t enough to overcome Hauschild’s lead.
Contacted after Wednesday's press deadline, Hauschild attributed his win to voters gravitating toward his message of being an "independent voice for the Northland" and away from extremist viewpoints.
"It made an impact and that's what really mattered," Hauschild said. "I think we exceeded expectations. I think there's this political story about the Iron Range that clearly didn't happen with the results of our race."
The result puts Democrats in the driver’s seat at the Legislature, which next year will decide how to spend a record-setting $12.1 billion surplus.
But the party will have narrow governing majorities. In the House, unofficial results project a 70-64 majority, while in the Senate the DFL will have just a one-vote edge. That means the DFL will have to keep together disparate ends of their political spectrum, which spans more conservative Democrats in Greater Minnesota and parts of the metro suburbs seats to more progressive ones in the Twin Cities core.
Hauschild said that he will work to put the needs of the district ahead of party partisanship.
"I am not going to let party poltics distort my view of being an effective and strong legislator," he said. "My goal now that we have won is to actually deliver for the Northland. There are a lot of opportunities for me to be that person in the Senate given how pivotal this race was. If they (Republicans) have good ideas I'm going to talk about it and we're going to find a way to get things done."
Minnpost contributed to this story.