ST. PAUL, Minn. — Shortly after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Darleen McKenzie, 79, and Doris Kennedy, 83, donned raincoats and walked the six blocks from their Lowertown apartments in steady rain to the downtown St. Paul Landmark Center, where they cast ballots. “I’m wet but dedicated,” said McKenzie, drying off next to an exhibit about the history of the former federal courthouse building before lining ...

First-time voter Jose Esparza, 19, gets a round of applause from poll workers as he places his‘ I Voted’ sticker on his jacket at Dayton’ s Bluff Recreation Center in St. Paul, Minn., during the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.“ It was super, super important for me to vote,” said Esparza,“ with all the ICE raids that have been a very, very big thing in my community.

John Autey/Pioneer Press/TNS

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Shortly after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Darleen McKenzie, 79, and Doris Kennedy, 83, donned raincoats and walked the six blocks from their Lowertown apartments in steady rain to the downtown St. Paul Landmark Center, where they cast ballots.

“I’m wet but dedicated,” said McKenzie, drying off next to an exhibit about the history of the former federal courthouse building before lining up for a voting booth. “We have to vote. We owe it to our city and our country and it’s important.”

Across Minnesota, one million or more voters appeared to agree.

The state Secretary of State’s office reported that as of 7 a.m. Tuesday, even before the polls opened, local election officials had already accepted 983,558 absentee and mail-in ballots, including 283,743 ballots returned by mail and 699,815 ballots cast in-person.

Those numbers represent the highest number of absentee and mail-in ballots cast before an election in a non-presidential election year, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

‘A pretty busy one’

By 9:45 a.m., nearly 285 people had cast ballots at the Landmark Center, which draws voters from across downtown St. Paul. “It’s a pretty busy one. It matches up with the primary,” said head judge Brad Semlak, who called turnout elevated for a non-presidential year.

Shortly before 9 a.m., some 335 residents had already cast ballots at the St. Columba School on Blair Avenue in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood, where voters filled every booth and multiple tables.

At the Seal Hi-Rise near Raymond Avenue, John Kunesh took his 8-year-old grandson Jackson Mbaga along with him to vote in the lobby at 7 a.m., only to find a line that snaked down the hall, around the corner and back on itself. He waited patiently about 40 minutes to cast his ballot against “Trump and his band of politicians.”

“With all the wars going on, I think the country would like to see everything go back to some degree of regularity,” Kunesh said, citing the price of gas, groceries and other disruptions to everyday life. “There’s been so much turmoil. People want to come out and be heard.”

At Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on Snelling Avenue in Highland Park, “most always Republican” voter Richard Reinhold said he was frustrated with voters acting as if President Trump himself were on the ballot.

“It seems more like a presidential year,” said Reinhold. “Trump’s not running and everyone seems to be running against Trump. Get to the issues — fraud. Enough is enough. Democrats have been running this ship — you can’t continue to look the other way. (The Feeding Our Future fraud), that was the tip of the iceberg. It just makes you angry.”

Also at Gloria Dei, Kate Durkin said she cast a ballot to “keep our country and our state democracy and our constitution intact. The way our country is being run right now, I would say I want to keep Minnesota free. I especially don’t like how ICE infiltrated our state and treated people, and I hold the top accountable for that.”

Statewide, county, municipal, school races

Voters appeared spurred by key races for open seats, including Minnesota governor and U.S. senator, as well as general concerns such as high gas prices, property taxes, tariff impacts, inflation and the state of the economy, on top of high-profile fraud cases in state-run social programs, and heightened immigration enforcement by the Trump administration beginning with Operation Metro Surge last winter.

Also on the ballot are every seat in the state Legislature, including 134 House seats and 67 Senate seats, as well as all eight U.S. congressional seats, on top of judicial and municipal races. There also are a number of municipal, county and school board races as well as school levies in several districts across the east metro on the ballot this year.

In the 2nd Congressional District, which covers much of Dakota County, Democratic nominee Matt Little, a former state senator and Lakeville mayor, and state Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake, are vying for the seat currently held by Angie Craig, who gave up her spot in Congress to run in the DFL primary for U.S. senator. After losing the primary, Craig has since endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for the Senate seat.

Other races to watch:

Statewide and Congressional

• U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and Lisa Demuth, the Republican speaker of the Minnesota House, are running for governor.

• Republican Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter, and Flanagan, a Democrat, are their party’s respective nominee for U.S. senator.

• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, faces a re-election challenge from private attorney Ron Schutz, a Republican.

• Longstanding U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., faces a challenge from Republican nominee Paul Wikstrom, a professional engineer, in the 4th Congressional District, which spans most of Ramsey County and part of Washington County, including all of St. Paul.

Also statewide — Minnesota voters will determine whether to amend the state Constitution to tap more money for schools from a constitutionally created school fund dating to 1858. The amendment has bipartisan support.

Local race

—State Rep. Maria Isa Perez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, and St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker are both running for the Ramsey County District 5 seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, an open seat for the first time in 31 years. The race is non-partisan.

—St. Paul voters will decide a ballot question — Question 1 — concerning the “Right to Repair.” The proposed ordinance would allow residential tenants to withhold up to $500 or half their rent, whichever is greater, to reimburse themselves for their own home repairs if their landlord fails to make necessary fixes following 14 days notice, as well as a home inspection if requested.

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