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In a matter of a decade, the tide has clearly shifted in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District.
Once a DFL stronghold, the cavernous district has turned Republican red, with U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber (R) scoring another lopsided win on Tuesday.
The incumbent won his fourth term in the U.S. House, and it was a cakewalk, as Stauber racked up nearly 58 percent of the vote while turning back the repeat challenge of former Duluth legislator.
With all precincts reporting, Stauber had 244,284 votes and Schultz had collected 176, 627.
It amounted to a 16 percentage point split and was an even larger margin than Stauber amassed two years ago, when he won by 14.5 points.
Since winning a seat previously held by the late Rick Nolan in 2018, Stauber has scored three straight double- digit wins in the district, which extends from northeastern Minnesota west to the Brainerd area and south to the Twin Cities suburbs.
The district was once reliably “blue,” with the late Jim Oberstar holding the seat for 36 years.
Between Oberstar and the late John Blatnik, Democrats had a half-century-plus grip on the district.
Stauber even ran ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump in the district.
Trump prevailed here, but by just over 14 percentage points against Vice President Kamala Harris.
The electoral rematch between Stauber and Schultz came just a week after an attimes hostile debate, where sharp differences between the candidates were on display.
Stauber took aim at the Biden Administration and accused Democrats of anti- energy, anti-mining and anti-forest harvesting policies.
He also blamed the administration for policies that have led to inflation and being too lax on crime and immigration.
Schultz said the area deserved “a better representative” in Congress and said Stauber had achieved little in his three terms in Washington.
Schultz also called for more to be done about gun violence and maintained her support for taconite mining on the Iron Range, while showing some skepticism about proposed copper-nickel mining ventures.
