DULUTH — On Tuesday, incumbent Congressman Pete Stauber, a Republican from Hermantown, defeated challenger State Rep. Jen Schultz, a Democrat from Duluth, by a margin of 14.5% — 57.2% to 42.7%.
While it was less than the 19.2% margin in Stauber’s 2020 win over Democrat Quinn Nystrom, it was almost right on the 15-point lead predicted by both The New York Times and FiveThirtyEight after redistricting changed the 8th Congressional District. This was the first election with the new maps.
A look at county election results from 2020 and 2022 shows where each party gained or lost voters.
Stauber reinforced the Republican lead in counties that were in the 7th Congressional District prior to redistricting.
Most notably, Mahnomen County (which is entirely within the White Earth Indian Reservation) and the portion of Becker County now in the 8th District (the southern section of the White Earth Reservation) swung from backing Democrat Collin Peterson in the 7th District race two years ago to Republican Stauber this year.
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Peterson, a conservative Democrat, had represented the 7th District since 1991 but was defeated by Republican Michelle Fischbach in 2020.
Meanwhile, Schultz widened the Democrats' margins in St. Louis and Cook counties by 9% and 7.7%, respectively. Those were the only two counties in the district that voted for Democrat candidates in both 2020 and 2022. She also took Lake County by 2.4%. Lake County backed Stauber in 2020 by a 3.8% margin
She also lessened the Republican majorities in Itasca, Carlton, Koochiching, Beltrami, Washington and Hubbard counties.
The Trust Project
