Good morning. Joe Biden won Minnesota comfortably, but Republicans appear to have maintained control of the Minnesota Senate, though this could change as final votes are counted over the coming days. It’s a split decision that highlights the electoral power of DFL voters in the Twin Cities metro — and the limits of that power. Part of that difference might be explained by significant votes for candidates running in third-party pro-marijuana parties, who in a few key districts received more votes than the margin between the victorious Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate. Reports have suggested some of these candidates may have been recruited by Republicans to pull votes away from DFL candidates. But these political games, if true, only partly explain why Democrats struggled in the battle for the Senate despite Biden’s comfortable statewide win. MPR News reporter David Montgomery examines the DFL's "efficiency gap" and ticket-splitters. Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the "blue wall" battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump's path.
With just a handful of states still up for grabs, Trump tried to press his case in court in some key swing states. It was unclear if any of his campaign's legal maneuvering over balloting would succeed in shifting the race in his favor.
Two days after Election Day, neither candidate had amassed the votes needed to win the White House. But Biden's victories in the Great Lakes states left him at 264, meaning he was one battleground state away — any would do — from becoming president-elect.
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