Why Minnesota Is Now in the Spotlight After the 2024 Election

While Minnesota was thrust into the national spotlight when Gov. Tim Walz was selected as the Democratic nominee for vice president, our state is now making headlines for another reason.

Until this year, it had been quite a while since Minnesota had a homegrown candidate for president or vice president. CBS Minnesota says you have to go back to the 1980 presidential election, when Minnesota native, Walter Mondale, ran with Jimmy Carter and was elected to the office of vice president.

Mondale would, of course, go on to run against Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election. If you recall, that contest didn't turn out very well for the North Star State's candidate, as Reagan bested Mondale in a landslide, CBS Minnesota noted.

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Before that, CBS Minnesota notes, you have to go back to 1968, when Minnesota's Hubert Humphrey secured the Democratic nomination for president but ended up losing that election to Richard Nixon.

But again this year, the Land of 10,000 Lakes is making headlines AFTER the election and it once again concerns our high voter turnout rate. And as it turns out that's nothing new here in the Bold North.

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Minnesota has consistently had the highest voter turnout in the United States. In 2020, we broke a record when 79.9 percent of eligible voters here cast a ballot in the general election. 2020 marked the third year in a row Minnesota ranked at the top of the list in the United States for voter turnout.

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And here in 2024, it looks like the North Star State has done it again. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told CBS Minnesota that our fair state had a turnout rate of 76 percent this year, higher than our 74 percent in 2016 but lower than our record 79 percent in 2020 during the pandemic.

According to preliminary data from the University of Florida Election Lab, that 76 percent puts Minnesota at number one in the country for voter turnout again this year. Colorado, Michigan, and Wisconsin were close with 74 percent, while Oregon and New Hampshire were at 73 percent and Maine at 72 percent. But nobody appears to have had a higher rate than Minnesota!