Minnesota Attorney General election, 2022

Elections in Minnesota, 2022

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← 2018
Minnesota Attorney General
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: May 31, 2022
Primary: August 9, 2022 General: November 8, 2022 Pre-election incumbent(s): Keith Ellison (Democratic)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Minnesota
Ballotpedia analysis
Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2022 Impact of term limits in 2022 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
Minnesota executive elections
Governor Lieutenant Governor Attorney General Secretary of State Auditor

Incumbent Keith Ellison (D) defeated Jim Schultz (R) in the November 8, 2022, general election for Minnesota Attorney General.

In September 2022, Sabato's Crystal Ball's Louis Jacobson wrote, "[Keith] Ellison’s progressive views, combined with rising concerns about crime, are the main complications to his quest for a second term. The GOP nominee is Jim Schultz, an attorney who won a majority of the vote in a 3-way primary contest. Schultz is considered more mainstream than some of the GOP’s other statewide candidates." Click here to read the analysis.

Ellison was first elected in 2018, defeating Doug Wardlow (R) 49% to 45%. Ellison previously served in the U.S. House and the Minnesota House of Representatives. Before his election to public office, Ellison worked as a civil rights and defense attorney. In a campaign ad, Ellison said, “As your attorney general, I’ve worked every day to uplift people, to help you afford your life, and live with dignity, safety, and respect.”

Schultz worked as an attorney in the private sector specializing in business, regulatory, and compliance law. He previously worked for Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Two Harbors Investment Corp., and for Värde Partners, an investment firm. In a campaign ad, Schultz said, “We have to do better. I’ll enforce the law, prosecute violent criminals, and fight for everyone to feel safer.”

Minnesota had a Democratic attorney general since 1971. The last Republican to hold office was Douglas M. Head, who served from 1967 to 1971.

This was one of 30 elections for attorney general taking place in 2022. All 50 states have an attorney general who serves as the state's chief legal officer, responsible for enforcing state law and offering the state government advice on legal matters. In 43 states, the office was, at the time of the 2022 elections, an elected post. At the time of the 2022 elections, there were 27 Republican attorneys general and 23 Democratic attorneys general. Click here for an overview of all 30 attorney general elections that took place in 2022. A state government triplex refers to a situation where the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same political party. Heading into the 2022 elections, there were 23 Republican triplexes, 18 Democratic triplexes, and nine divided governments where neither party held triplex control.

Keith Ellison (D) completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read his responses.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

• Minnesota Attorney General election, 2022 (August 9 Democratic primary)
• Minnesota Attorney General election, 2022 (August 9 Republican primary)

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Attorney General of Minnesota

Incumbent Keith Ellison defeated Jim Schultz and Laurice Anderson in the general election for Attorney General of Minnesota on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Keith Ellison (D)	50.4	1,254,371
		Jim Schultz (R)	49.5	1,233,556
		Laurice Anderson (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	12
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,362

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,490,301
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Minnesota

Incumbent Keith Ellison defeated Bill Dahn in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Minnesota on August 9, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Keith Ellison	89.3	378,367
		Bill Dahn	10.7	45,110

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 423,477
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota

Jim Schultz defeated Doug Wardlow and Sharon Anderson in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota on August 9, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Schultz	52.5	163,944
		Doug Wardlow	34.8	108,537
		Sharon Anderson	12.7	39,723

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 312,204
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Dennis Smith (R)
• Tad Jude (R)
• Lynne Torgerson (R)

Voting information

See also: Voting in Minnesota

Election information in Minnesota: Nov. 8, 2022, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

• In-person: Nov. 8, 2022
• By mail: Received by Oct. 18, 2022
• Online: Oct. 18, 2022

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

K.A.

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

• In-person: Nov. 7, 2022
• By mail: Received by Nov. 7, 2022
• Online: Nov. 7, 2022

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

• In-person: Nov. 8, 2022
• By mail: Received by Nov. 8, 2022

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Sep. 23, 2022 to Nov. 7, 2022

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

K.A.

When were polls open on Election Day?

7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Past elections

2018

See also: Minnesota Attorney General election, 2018

General election

General election for Attorney General of Minnesota

Keith Ellison defeated Doug Wardlow and Noah Johnson in the general election for Attorney General of Minnesota on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Keith Ellison (D)	49.0	1,249,407
		Doug Wardlow (R)	45.1	1,150,459
		Noah Johnson (Grassroots Party)	5.7	145,748
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	6,158

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,551,772 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Attorney General of Minnesota

Keith Ellison defeated Debra Hilstrom, Tom Foley, Matt Pelikan, and Mike Rothman in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Minnesota on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Keith Ellison	49.8	281,142
		Debra Hilstrom	19.1	108,048
		Tom Foley	12.5	70,786
		Matt Pelikan	10.6	59,876
		Mike Rothman	7.9	44,522

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 564,374
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Lori Swanson (D)
• Ryan Winkler (D)
• Sam Clark (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota

Doug Wardlow defeated Sharon Anderson and Robert Lessard in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Minnesota on August 14, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Doug Wardlow	46.3	135,971
		Sharon Anderson	32.1	94,245
		Robert Lessard	21.7	63,722

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 293,938
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2014

See also: Minnesota Attorney General election, 2014

Attorney General of Minnesota, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Lori Swanson Incumbent	52.6%	1,014,714
	Republican	Scott Newman	39%	752,543
	Legalize Marijuana	Dan R. Vacek	3%	57,604
	Independence	Brandan Borgos	2.3%	44,613
	Libertarian	Mary O'Connor	1.6%	30,008
	Green	Andy Dawkins	1.5%	28,748
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0%	750
Total Votes				1,928,980
Election results via Minnesota Secretary of State

Election analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.

• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
• Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
• State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
• Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.

Presidential elections

See also: Presidential voting trends in Minnesota and The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Cook PVI by congressional district

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index for Minnesota, 2022
District	Incumbent	Party	PVI
Minnesota's 1st	Vacant	Republican	R+7
Minnesota's 2nd	Angie Craig	Democratic	D+1
Minnesota's 3rd	Dean Phillips	Democratic	D+8
Minnesota's 4th	Betty McCollum	Democratic	D+17
Minnesota's 5th	Ilhan Omar	Democratic	D+30
Minnesota's 6th	Tom Emmer	Republican	R+12
Minnesota's 7th	Michelle Fischbach	Republican	R+19
Minnesota's 8th	Pete Stauber	Republican	R+8

2020 presidential results by 2022 congressional district lines

2020 presidential results in congressional districts based on 2022 district lines, Minnesota
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Minnesota's 1st	44.3%	53.5%
Minnesota's 2nd	52.5%	45.4%
Minnesota's 3rd	59.5%	38.5%
Minnesota's 4th	67.8%	30.2%
Minnesota's 5th	80.6%	17.4%
Minnesota's 6th	40.1%	57.7%
Minnesota's 7th	32.5%	65.7%
Minnesota's 8th	43.4%	54.7%

2012-2020

How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:

County-level voting pattern categories
Democratic
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Democratic	D	D	D
Trending Democratic	R	D	D
Battleground Democratic	D	R	D
New Democratic	R	R	D
Republican
Status	2012	2016	2020
Solid Republican	R	R	R
Trending Republican	D	R	R
Battleground Republican	R	D	R
New Republican	D	D	R

Following the 2020 presidential election, 51.8% of Minnesotans lived in one of the state's nine Solid Democratic counties, which voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 38.6% lived in one of 59 Solid Republican counties. Overall, Minnesota was Solid Democratic, having voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2012, Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016, and Joe Biden (D) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Minnesota following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Minnesota county-level statistics, 2020
Solid Democratic	9	51.8%
Solid Republican	59	38.6%
Trending Republican	15	5.8%
Battleground Democratic	4	3.8%
Total voted Democratic	13	55.7%
Total voted Republican	74	44.3%

Historical voting trends

Minnesota presidential election results (1900-2020)

• 20 Democratic wins
• 10 Republican wins
• 1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	P	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

Statewide elections

This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.

U.S. Senate elections

See also: List of United States Senators from Minnesota

The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in Minnesota.

U.S. Senate election results in Minnesota
Race	Winner	Runner up
2020	48.8%	43.5%
2018	53.0%	42.4%
2018	60.3%	36.2%
2014	53.2%	42.9%
2012	65.2%	30.6%
Average	56.1	39.1

Gubernatorial elections

See also: Governor of Minnesota

The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in Minnesota.

Gubernatorial election results in Minnesota
Race	Winner	Runner up
2018	53.8%	42.4%
2014	50.1%	44.5%
2010	43.6%	43.2%
2006	46.7%	45.7%
2002	44.4%	36.5%
Average	47.7	42.5

State partisanship

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Minnesota's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Minnesota, November 2022
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	4	6
Republican	0	4	4
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	8	10

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Minnesota's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Minnesota, November 2022
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Tim Walz
Lieutenant Governor	Peggy Flanagan
Secretary of State	Steve Simon
Attorney General	Keith Ellison

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Minnesota State Legislature as of November 2022.

Minnesota State Senate

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	31
	Republican Party	34
	Independent	1
	Vacancies	1
Total		67

Minnesota House of Representatives

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	69
	Republican Party	63
	Independent	1
	Vacancies	1
Total		134

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Minnesota was a divided government, with Democrats controlling the governorship and a majority in the house and Republicans controlling a majority in the state senate. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Minnesota Party Control: 1992-2022
Two years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Governor	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Minnesota and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Minnesota
	Minnesota	Vereinigte Staaten
Population	5,706,494	331,449,281
Land area (sq mi)	79,631	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White	81.6%	70.4%
Black/African American	6.4%	12.6%
Asian	4.9%	5.6%
Native American	1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander	0%	0.2%
Two or more	3.9%	5.2%
Hispanic/Latino	5.5%	18.2%
Bildung
High school graduation rate	93.4%	88.5%
College graduation rate	36.8%	32.9%
Income
Median household income	$73,382	$64,994
Persons below poverty level	9.3%	12.8%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Minnesota Attorney General official website

Footnotes

[[Category: Marquee, completed election, 2022]