Minnesota Republicans reflect on DFL sweep one day after midterm elections

Sweeping wins on Election Day gave Democrats a trifecta in Minnesota. The decisive victories mirror results from across the country, as democrats take the majority in the House and the Senate. 

"I think the party has to do some serious introspection," said former State Senator Scott Jensen.

Jensen fell short in the race for Minnesota Auditor to DFL candidate Zach Filipovich. Jensen was previously a republican gubernatorial nominee who faced off against Tim Walz.  

"We're seeing problems between the Republicans trying to message on fraud and the Democrats trying to message on Trump," he said. "The Democrats clearly succeeded, and I think Republicans were slow to recognize it."

Jensen gave a nod to Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar and her promise to deal with fraud through a top-down audit, though ultimately saying the election came down to a referendum on President Donald Trump and his policies. He pointed to the Administration's immigration enforcement and the Iran War.

On Wednesday, President Trump told reporters it was "probably true" that the war in Iran contributed to republican losses, referencing the higher price of gas. Though he said he wouldn't have done anything differently. Vice President JD Vance took to social media with a lengthy post that read the conflict is "the reason we lost." 

Republican State Representative Walter Hudson wrote on X, "For the third time in my political memory, Republicans had a federal trifecta and failed to deliver on what they promised."

"Republicans need to learn from this utter slaughter. I have some hope that we will," added Republican State Representative Nolan West on a post.

Attorney Chris Madel, who at one point was running for governor, criticized the party and pointed to his own prediction earlier this year that Republicans would once again fail to grab a win.

"I said at the time that the Minnesota Republicans were getting killed by the National Republicans, and that I didn't think that it was possible for anyone to win a statewide race," Madel said. 

Madel's decision to leave the gubernatorial race came two days after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in south Minneapolis. He still believes Operation Metro Surge swayed voters and that Republicans didn't meet the moment when it comes to affordability. 

"I think that we have forgotten what it means in order to do true public service in a lot of these cases," Madel said.