Surprise Turnout and a Surprise Result for Primary Election

Joe Biden's campaign did not have a strong presence in the state, making his victory largely unexpected, especially after Senator Bernie Sanders won the Minnesota caucus handily back in 2016...

DULUTH, Minn. – Joe Biden’s campaign did not have a strong presence in the state, making his victory largely unexpected, especially after Senator Bernie Sanders won the Minnesota caucus handily back in 2016.

High voter turnout was a big part of the Minnesota primary. Turnout in Duluth was right around 35 percent of registered voters, but the biggest news was Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

In St. Louis County, about 41 percent of the votes went to Biden while around 30 percent of the vote went to Senator Bernie Sanders.

Even though she had already dropped out of the race, Senator Amy Klobuchar received around 4.5 percent of the votes.

“In Minnesota, it was a huge upset. I don’t think anybody expected that Joe Biden to do really well much less in the state so I mean it was a huge shock. It shows the power of Amy Klobuchar’s endorsement, that’s the only explanation I could have for it,” said Cindy Rugeley, Associate Professor of Political Science at UMD.

Because the Biden campaign did not focus much on Minnesota, his win was a bit of a shock.

“The reason why it’s a surprise is Joe Biden didn’t spend any time in Minnesota. He didn’t come here, he didn’t spend any money, I mean, no money. It wasn’t the kind of thing where he just did mailings. He didn’t do anything. I mean, he had written off the state,” said Rugeley.

Unlike Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren had visited the state earlier in the election cycle and Mike Bloomberg spent big money in Minnesota with his own Duluth campaign office and lots of political ads running on television.

Bernie Sanders also held a campaign rally in St. Paul ahead of Super Tuesday. The high voter turnout ended up being a big plus for Biden.

“If you were looking at a traditional primary election, it’s very high above. It’s actually more equivalent to when we have a municipal general election,” said Chelsea Helmer, Director of Administrative Services for the City of Duluth.

In Duluth alone, there were 240 election judges, volunteers and staff that contributed their services for the primary. Six more states will be holding primaries next Tuesday on March 10th.