House DFL expects to pick up two seats net

The DFL and the GOP continued to exchange Minnesota House seats as the election results trickled in early Wednesday morning.

The DFL House Caucus is poised to add two seats to its majority, said caucus communications director Andrew Wittenborg. That would give DFLers 87 out of 134 House seats. But that’s short of the90 seatsthey need in order to have a veto-proof majority.

Rep. Sondra Erickson, R-Princeton, was narrowly defeated with all precincts reporting by the early morning hours. Erickson, the lead Republican on the House Education Finance Committee, lost to Gail Jackson by a difference of50.12 percent to 49.67 percent.

In District 41B, a seat held by Rep. Neil Peterson, R-Bloomington, DFLer Paul Rosenthal beat Jan Schneider 52.56 percent to 47.01 percent. Peterson lost in the September primary to Schneider. Peterson drew criticism from his own party after he voted to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of this year’s transportation finance bill.

The veto override also played a major factor in ending the 18-year House tenure of Edina GOP Rep. Ron Erhardt. Erhardt, who also voted for the override that increased the state’s per-gallon gasoline tax by 5 cents, opted to run as an independent after he lost the GOP District 41A endorsement in March to Edina businessman Keith Downey. Downey, whose website prominently features a picture of himself with Pawlenty, received 36.69 percent of the vote. Erhardt received 31.9 percent of the vote and DFLer Kevin Staunton received 31.35 percent.

In the southern suburbs, Rep. Lynn Wardlow, R-Eagan, lost a rematch to Mike Obermueller 51.19 percent to 48.72 percent.

But, as was noted in an earlier PIM election night post, House DFLers lost seats too.

In a closely watched race in southeastern Minnesota, Rep. Ken Tschumper, DFL-La Crescent, lost a rematch with former GOP Rep. Greg Davids. Davids, of Preston, who was House Agriculture Committee chairman until he was defeated by Tschumper in 2006, won 50.9 percent to 48.81 percent.

First-term Rep. Sandy Wollschlager, DFL-Red Wing, lost to Tim Kelly of Red Wing by a margin for 51.89 percent to 48.05 percent.

Rep. Shelly Madore, DFL-Apple Valley, lost to Tara Mack by a 52.23 percent to 47.61 percent difference.

DFLers were holding their breath as they watched the returns for Rep. Tim Faust, DFL-Mora. Faust squeaked out a narrow win in a rematch against former GOP Rep. Judy Soderstrom. Faust’s brother Clint, however, lost his challenge to Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, by a margin of 54.37 percent to 45.55 percent.