November 6, 2012 2018 → 65.2% 30.5% | 1,854,595 867,874 | |
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Winner Amy Klobuchar | ||
The 2012 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives as well as various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic–Farmer–Labor U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar was re-elected to a second term in a landslide, defeating the Republican nominee, State Representative Kurt Bills, by almost one million votes and carrying all but two of the state's counties.
Contents
Background
Incumbent Amy Klobuchar was first elected in 2006 to succeed the retiring DFL incumbent Mark Dayton. Klobuchar beat Republican candidate Mark Kennedy by 58% to 38%. Klobuchar served as Minnesota's only senator between January 3 and July 7, 2009, due to the contested results of Minnesota's senatorial election held the previous year, finally decided in favor of DFLer Al Franken.
DFL primary
The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party held its Senate primary on August 14, 2012.
Declared
Republican primary
The Republican Party of Minnesota held its nominating convention in May 2012 and held its Senate primary on August 14, 2012.
Declared
Withdrew
Declined
Campaign
The Independence Party of Minnesota did not plan to run a candidate in the general election. Party chairman Mark Jenkins said in November 2011 that he saw the Senate election as "a distraction from having our best and brightest engaged in state legislative races". At the party's convention in June 2012, neither candidate was endorsed although Williams won a majority of the votes and came within two votes of the required 60% needed for the party's endorsement. He proceeded with his run for the Senate but the party focused its attention on state legislative races.
Candidates
Candidates
Debates
Klobuchar and Bills held their second debate on August 29, 2012 at the State Fair, sponsored by MPR News. Their third debate, on September 16 in Duluth, was about the nation's struggle with deficit spending and unemployment. The audience was assembled by the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce and Duluth News Tribune.
Top contributors
This section lists the top contributors by employer. These organizations themselves didn't donate, but these numbers include donations from their PACs, members, employees, owners, and their immediate families.