Conservative candidate WON popular vote among SD45 precincts, signaling growing strength in West Metro!

With 100% of precincts reporting, the Secretary of State's preliminary special election results for May 14, 2024 show the DFL insider beating out Marisa Simonetti by just over one thousand votes. As a reminder, the District 6 Commissioner seat has sat empty since its last DFL-allied occupant vacated it in September 2023 to take on a different job.

While a slight majority of Hennepin County's District 6 voters seemed to be OK with banning lawnmowers and Zambonis in Minnesota, Simonetti showed what will surely be regarded in DFL circles as shocking progress against her opponent.

Simonetti made up substantial ground from the special primary held just two weeks earlier. In Senate District 45 in particular, there are several points of encouragement in the detailed results. Simonetti collected 2,290 votes (50.5%) compared to her opponent's 2,230 votes (49.2%) from the 31 eligible precincts located in Senate District 45.  You read that right, the conservative candidate with a two-month-old political career WON the popular vote in Senate District 45. A bright horizon for a potential return to rational thinking among West Metro voters and genuine hope for future conservative candidates in November!

Additionally, the proportions of votes for Ms. Simonetti, as compared to total votes cast, improved in 29 out of 31 precincts in SD45 as compared to the special primary election results just two weeks earlier, indicating a significant favorable shift of voter sentiment away from the remaining DFL supported candidate.

Even if the seat is lost for now, there's apparently a decent chance its occupant will just resign in the middle of their term again. Plus both the District 6 & District 7 Hennepin County Commissioner seats will be back up for their regularly scheduled elections in the November 2024 general election. Gear up folks!

Sincere congratulations to Ms. Simonetti on a well-run, fast-paced campaign and best wishes for future success soon!

Also see coverage from Alpha News here.

Full results from the Special Election as reported on the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State website and are as follows:

Heather Edelson 6,194 54.4%
Marisa Simonetti 5,171 45.4%
Write-In 21 0.2%
TOTAL 11,386 100.0%

SD45 Precinct Results

Marisa had another extraordinary showing in the SD45 Precincts within Hennepin County District 6, getting 50% or more of the votes in 16 of 31 precincts:

Precinct No. Precinct Name
(click for detailed map)		 Votes for Simonetti % for Simonetti

Incremental
Improvement vs. Primary
0675 Deephaven P-1 95 45.7% 4.3%
0680 Deephaven P-2 144 61.5% 6.6%
0965 Excelsior P-1 64 50.0% 14.3%
1065 Greenwood P-1 41 59.4% 22.9%
1160 Long Lake P-1 57 47.9% 10.0%
2230 Minnetonka Beach P-1 61 65.6% 5.6%
2110 Minnetonka W-1 P-E 83 50.0% 5.3%
2115 Minnetonka W-1 P-F 77 37.7% 1.8%
2120 Minnetonka W-2 P-A 70 35.0% 11.9%
2125 Minnetonka W-2 P-B 103 41.4% 12.0%
2130 Minnetonka W-2 P-C 38 35.2% 13.2%
2135 Minnetonka W-2 P-D 20 31.3% 18.8%
2140 Minnetonka W-2 P-E 18 23.7% (2.7)%
2145 Minnetonka W-3 P-A 19 28.8% 6.6%
2150 Minnetonka W-3 P-B 59 41.5% 13.6%
2155 Minnetonka W-3 P-C 103 46.0% 9.2%
2160 Minnetonka W-3 P-D 121 49.4% 11.1%
2165 Minnetonka W-3 P-E 107 42.8% 14.2%
2185 Minnetonka W-4 P-A 53 52.0% (5.7)%
2260 Mound P-1 30 46.9% 13.5%
2265 Mound P-2 66 76.7% 31.3%
2355 Orono P-1 106 58.6% 14.1%
2360 Orono P-2 72 63.2% 37.2%
2365 Orono P-3 114 65.5% 18.7%
2725 Shorewood P-1 104 59.4% 8.8%
2730 Shorewood P-2 126 56.3% 20.4%
2735 Shorewood P-3 84 64.6% 18.7%
2755 Spring Park P-1 19 46.3% 14.1%
2900 Tonka Bay P-1 76 64.4% 3.1%
2910 Wayzata P-1 132 55.9% 21.1%
2925 Woodland 28 62.2% 30.2%

Remaining Process (Nerd Alert) 

State law prohibits the release of polling place results until all absentee ballots for that precinct have been counted and combined with polling place totals. Accordingly, the vote totals from absentee results have been combined with results from the election day polling places and should already be reflected in the data above.

Every county establishes a county canvassing board of five members: the county auditor; the court administrator of the district court in that county; the mayor or chair of the town board of the most populous municipality in the county; and two members of the county board. Any member of the canvassing board may appoint a designee of their choice to appear at any board meeting.

The Hennepin County canvassing board meeting will be held Friday, May 17 at 10:30 a.m. at the Hennepin County Government Center, room A-2481 to certify results of the County Commissioner District 6 Special Election.