2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota
← 1994 November 7, 2000 2006 →
	Dayton: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Grams: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Tie: 40–50% 50% No votes
U.S. senator before election; Rod Grams; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Mark Dayton; Democratic (DFL)

The 2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 7, 2000. Republican incumbent Rod Grams ran for a second consecutive term in office, but he was defeated by former Minnesota state auditor Mark Dayton.

Upon Dayton's swearing in, the Democratic Party held both of Minnesota's Senate seats for the first time since 1978.

DFL primary

Mark Dayton, former Minnesota state auditor and nominee for Senate in 1982
Michael V. Ciresi, attorney
Jerry Janezich, state senator
Rebecca Yanisch
Richard "Dick" Franson, city councilman
Oloveuse S. "Ole" Savior, artist and perennial candidate.
Gregg A. Iverson

Results

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic (DFL)	Mark Dayton	178,972	41.30
	Democratic (DFL)	Mike Ciresi	96,874	22.35
	Democratic (DFL)	Jerry Janezich	90,074	20.78
	Democratic (DFL)	Rebecca Yanisch	63,289	14.60
	Democratic (DFL)	Richard Franson	1,336	0.31
	Democratic (DFL)	Oloveuse S. Savior	1,206	0.28
	Democratic (DFL)	Gregg A. Iverson	1,038	0.24
Total votes			462,789	100.00

Republican primary

Candidate

Rod Grams, incumbent U.S. Senator
William Paul "Bill" Dahn

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rod Grams (incumbent)	112,335	89.11
	Republican	William Paul Dahn	13,728	10.89
Total votes			126,063	100.00

General election

Candidates

David Daniels (Grassroots)
Mark Dayton, former Minnesota state auditor and 1982 nominee for Senate (DFL)
Rebecca Ellis (Socialist Workers)
James Gibson (Independence)
Rod Grams, incumbent U.S. senator since 1995 (Republican)
Erik Pakieser (Libertarian)
Ole Savior, perennial candidate (Independent; write-in)
David Swan (Constitution)

Debates

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota debates
No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Republican	Democratic	Independence	Constitution
Key: P Participant A Absent N Not invited I Invited W Withdrawn
					Rod Grams	Mark Dayton	James Gibson	David Swan
1	Oct. 18, 2000	KARE-TV	Paul Majors Tim Russert	C-SPAN	P	P	P	N
2	Oct. 26, 2000	WCCO-TV	Don Shelby	C-SPAN	P	P	P	P
3	Nov. 3, 2000	KTCA-TV Minnesota Citizen's Forum Star Tribune Twin Cities Public Television WCCO	Eric Eskola Cathy Wurzer	C-SPAN	P	P	P	N

Polling

Poll source	Date(s)	Sample size	Margin of error	Rod Grams (R)	Mark Dayton (D)	Jim Gibson (IP)	Other / undecided^[a]
Harris Insights & Analytics^[1]	November 3, 2000	3,793	—	40%	50%	1%	9%
Minneapolis Star Tribune^[1]	November 2, 2000	900	—	37%	46%	5%	12%
Tarrance Group (R)^[b]^[1]	November 1, 2000	450	—	43%	44%	6%	7%
Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy^[1]	October 27, 2000	625	—	42%	47%	5%	6%
St. Cloud State University^[1]	October 19, 2000	514	—	33%	48%	6%	13%

Results

2000 United States Senate election in Minnesota^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic (DFL)	Mark Dayton	1,181,553	48.83	+4.73
	Republican	Rod Grams (incumbent)	1,047,474	43.29	−5.76
	Independence	James Gibson	140,583	5.81	+0.43
	Grassroots	David Daniels	21,447	0.89	−0.01
	Socialist Workers	Rebecca Ellis	12,956	0.54	+0.40
	Constitution	David Swan	8,915	0.37	n/a
	Libertarian	Erik D. Pakieser	6,588	0.27	n/a
	Write-in	Ole Savior	4	0.00	n/a
Total votes			2,419,520	100.00	n/a
	Democratic (DFL) gain from Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Aitkin (largest city: Aitkin)
Big Stone (largest city: Ortonville)
Grant (largest city: Elbow Lake)
Lincoln (largest city: Tyler)
Marshall (largest city: Warren)
Pennington (largest city: Thief River Falls)
Pine (largest city: Pine City)
Polk (largest city: East Grand Forks)
Pope (largest city: Glenwood)
Red Lake (largest city: Red Lake Falls)
Yellow Medicine (largest city: Granite Falls)
Beltrami (largest city: Bemidji)
Blue Earth (largest city: Mankato)
Chippewa (largest city: Montevideo)
Clay (largest city: Moorhead)
Fillmore (largest city: Spring Valley)
Freeborn (largest city: Albert Lea)
Itasca (largest city: Grand Rapids)
Koochiching (largest city: International Falls)
Lac qui Parle (largest city: Madison)
Mahnomen (largest city: Mahnomen)
Nicollet (largest city: North Mankato)
Rice (largest city: Faribault)
Swift (largest city: Benson)
Traverse (largest city: Wheaton)
Winona (largest city: Winona)
Kandiyohi (largest city: Willmar)
Jackson (largest city: Jackson)
Renville (largest city: Olivia)

References

1 2 3 4 5 "FiveThirtyEight's Pollster Ratings Raw Polls File". GitHub. FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved October 15, 2026.
↑ General Election Results, Minnesota Secretary of State Archived November 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

Notes

↑ Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
↑ Poll conducted for an unspecified Republican sponsor.

External links

Official campaign websites (archived)

[FTE-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "FiveThirtyEight's Pollster Ratings Raw Polls File". GitHub. FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved October 15, 2026.

[4] General Election Results, Minnesota Secretary of State Archived November 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

[1] Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.

[3] Poll conducted for an unspecified Republican sponsor.

[a]

[1]

[b]

[2]

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DFL primary

Results

Republican primary

Candidate

Results

General election

Candidates

Debates

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

References

Notes

External links