On election night 2024, former President Donald Trump secured a historic second term with major victories in swing states throughout the country. Additionally, Republicans won the majority in the U.S. Senate and appear positioned to win a majority in the U.S. House.
In Minnesota, Democrats were dealt a major blow after Republicans flipped three seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Those three seats will mean the House is tied with 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats. However, two seats that appear to have been won by Democrats will likely go to recounts given their razor-thin margins of victory.
Should the GOP win one of those seats in a recount, they would gain outright control of the House. Since 2022, Democrats have maintained a state government “trifecta” by controlling the House, Minnesota Senate, and the governorship.
In an interview with Alpha News reporter Liz Collin, Minnesota Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, discussed the election results, the political culture in Minnesota, and many other topics.
Regarding Trump’s historic victory, Hudson said, “Trump is the 47th president of the United States, and I’m here for it.”
Hudson, who also works for the Minnesota Republican Party as its outreach director, told Alpha News that “fundamentally, culturally, Minnesota is not a blue state.” In the GOP lawmaker’s view, recent Democratic victories in Minnesota are the product of “the kind of institutional inertia of having been a blue state for so long.”
Instead, Hudson said Minnesotans who he talks to “agree with [Republicans] on the issues and they see things our way.”
“It turns out that people’s natural instincts align more with conservative values than they do with the radical agenda that’s been forwarded by the Democrats,” said Hudson.
While Hudson notes that the GOP has won “hearts and minds” throughout the state, he says some of those individuals are not engaging in the political process.
“They don’t feel like there’s a home for them to participate in politically,” said Hudson. “So moving forward over the course of these next two years, that’s the job of the Republican party is to engage with folks, to build relationships, to build coalitions and to compete with the Democrats.”
Discussing the GOP’s outreach strategy to various groups, Hudson said, “whether it’s the Somali community or African-Americans or East Africans or any given group that we are engaging with, they feel as though their vote doesn’t matter and nobody’s listening to them. So I think one of the responsibilities that we have, regardless of how the situation in the House pans out, as a Republican Party, we need to be talking to these folks right now.”
Having won his own reelection on Tuesday by roughly 25 points, Hudson will return to St. Paul to begin serving his second term in the House. Given Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the presidential election, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will return to Minnesota to continue serving as governor.
“It’s gonna be very interesting to see if [Walz] has any insight about the loss whatsoever and whether it affects his conduct, his rhetoric, and how he proceeds,” said Hudson. “Unfortunately, I think the past indicates that he probably won’t have a lot of grace in this moment. He probably won’t have a lot of humility and come back with his tail properly tucked between his legs.”
