Purple North? Northern MN's political diversity beyond red vs. blue

Election season is dominated by two colors.

Regions are painted red or blue, depending on the outcome of the election. It makes sense, given most maps are meant to show which party’s candidate will be representing a given area.

But when those are the only maps people see — especially people who don’t live in those areas — they can result in an oversimplification.

Take a map of the state house results, for example.

Our region is solidly red. Similar maps showing all of Minnesota also give the illusion of a clear divide — rural is red, urban is blue.

Again, when it comes to election outcomes and the resulting representation, those maps are accurate. But they can overlook the nuance of specific results.

Maps showing shades of red and blue do a better job of telling the story — but the reality of Northern Minnesota politics isn’t very well represented by visuals that rely on just those two colors.

That’s not to say our region didn’t lean red in this election; all three maps show that, and so does the data used to make them. Last Tuesday, 63% of ballots in the parts of Northern Minnesota in the map were cast for Republican state house candidates, compared to 36% for DFLers.

But this does show Northern Minnesota is more purple than certain visuals would lead you to believe. It also better represents different regional and local stories.

Hovering over the legend shows a clear conservative trend as you move farther west. Selecting specific precincts gives a more detailed look.

Redby is the most liberal precinct in the region, with just 13 of the 567 voters supporting District 2A Republican Bidal Duran.

Just 20 miles east, Shooks Township is the most conservative of precincts with over 100 voters; only six of the 114 cast their ballots for District 2B DFLer Michael Reyes.

Elections

Election 2024 Results

If you include smaller precincts, 100% of voters in O’Brien Township, which borders Redby, supported District 2B Republican Matt Bliss. It’s one of 11 precincts with more than two voters that only cast ballots for the Republican candidate.

Districts 2A and 2B also hold two of the four precincts with more than two voters who were split 50/50. In Mahnomen County’s Clover Township, 20 cast their ballots for Reyes and 20 for Bliss. In Beltrami’s Battle Township, 10 voted for Olson and 10 for Duran.

The other split precincts were:

• Libby Township West in Aitkin County: 14 voters split between District 7A candidates Republican Spencer Igo and DFLer Aron Schnaser  
• Borup: 38 voters split between District 1B candidates DFLer Mike Christopherson and Republican Steve Gander 
• Chisholm: 2,346 voters split between District 7B candidates DFLer Lorrie Janatopoulos and Republican Cal Warwas (plus two write-in votes) 

The precinct-level results illustrate something many Northern Minnesotans already know: Political preference has to be overlooked to get things done.

“This is a small community made up with a lot of different individuals, and you really need to put all that state and federal level stuff aside to get things done at the city level and focus on what’s important and what benefits those inside your community,” said Chisholm Mayor Adam Lantz, who emphasized he was speaking personally and not on behalf of the city.

Though local offices like city councils and school boards are all officially nonpartisan, there are often officials who lean one way or another politically. Lantz said that’s never gotten in the way in Chisholm.

“We’ve never had that issue of somebody putting their ... opinion, just what’s reflective of their values,” he said. “ ... I’d say it comes down to communication and respectfulness and respecting each other.

“We obviously all have disagreements now and again. We don’t agree on everything that goes through, but at the end of the day, I think it’s a small group of people that is focused on the betterment of the community as a whole.”

Lantz said Warwas and Janatopoulos both spent a lot of time campaigning in the community, and it was all positive.

“When those groups came in, they weren’t chastising the other group,” he said. “There was not that vile back-and-forth that you might see in a bigger city.”

He said Chisholm’s always been a community where people speak their minds but respectfully and empathetically.

Lantz said retiring DFL Rep. Dave Lislegard “did unbelievably well for our communities up here, and he worked unbelievably hard.” Chisholm alone received north of $12 million for local projects, he said.

“I just know that the representation up here definitely needs to work with the representation from down south to work together to bring money back up here.”