As rain deluged the Iron Range, so did a wave of Democratic-leaning voters Tuesday that erased the large margins local Republicans won in 2024, after decades of changing political tides in the mining region.
Voters sent a national rebuke to the Trump Administration by taking control of Congress, and Minnesota ballots delivered another trifecta to the DFL. The balance of power went unchanged within the Iron Range Delegation, but House Republicans saw their margins narrow to nearly half of those two years earlier.
Roger Skraba had the closest race of the night in House 3A, slipping past DFLer Aaron Kania by 3.7 points. It was a margin more than 10 points lower than his 2024 victory of 14.1 points. Spencer Igo had the most breathing room with a 14.6-point win over Erin McCabe Ningen in House 7A, but still experienced a 6-point drop from two years ago.
In House 7B, voters once again proved to have some swing in their preferences.
When Cal Warwas won the district by 12.7 points in 2024, it was a stunning margin as Republicans took the seat for the first time since 1928. Two years previously, Dave Lislegard won a third term by 2.4 percent before declining to another term. This year, Warwas won his first re-election battle by 7.4 points over challenger Dan Horoshak.
One of the biggest drivers for the DFL in this seat was the party’s stronghold in Virginia and Eveleth, where the unions delivered routinely. That changed in 2024 when Warwas won Virginia by 175 votes and Eveleth by 39 votes.
But the voting block that carried the DFL for decades returned in some form Tuesday. Horoshak won Virginia by 138 votes and Eveleth by 114. The swings there and elsewhere were not enough to produce an upset and unexpected flip for DFLers, but at least this election cycle, showed the damaged Republican brand had big impacts down the ballot, similar to the national Democrats’ impact on 2024.
Senate Republican incumbents saw a mixed bag Tuesday night. Keri Heintzeman defeated DFL challenger Denise Slipy by more than 24 points in Senate District 6. It was an increase from her 20-point special election victory over Slipy in 2025, but 3 points lower than Justin Eichorn performed in 2022.
In Senate District 7, incumbent Rob Farnsworth overcame DFL challenger Kim McLaughlin by 8.9 points, a slight increase from his win in 2022 over Ben DeNucci (7.0 points).
Grant Hauschild, the last DFLer in the Iron Range Delegation, was arguably the biggest winner Tuesday night in a rematch against Republican Andrea Zupancich.
Four years ago, the two faced off to replace Tom Bakk, a former majority leader for Democrats that broke from the party in his final term to be an Independent. Hauschild rode his hometown vote in Hermantown to a 1.6-point margin of victory.
The race was among the most expensive in Minnesota history and was seen as a prime target for Republicans hoping to undo the one-seat majority Democrats held. Instead, Bakk flipped his endorsement from Zupancich to Hauschild this year, and the incumbent overcame ties to the unpopular and outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, along with a data center fight in Hermantown.
Hauschild narrowly lost in Zupancich’s home district in Babbitt before closing things out in Hermantown, gaining more than 7 points from 2022 and finishing with an 8.7-point margin.
The Blue Wave through Minnesota and the northeastern portion was perhaps most noticeable in the 8th Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Congressman Pete Stauber was victorious for the fourth time.
Still, the early victories Stauber enjoyed in 2020-2024 were not found, when he won by an average of 16.6 points. Stauber, on Tuesday, won by a safe but significantly lower margin of 6.2 points, more than 10 points of his average re-election bids.
