Reading the obituary of Congressman Jim Hagedorn, 59 (Formerly of Blue Earth) in the Faribault County Register, we paused at this passage:
Congressman Hagedorn was first elected in 2018 and made history when he successfully flipped a long-held Democratic seat from blue to red during a challenging midterm cycle. He was re-elected in 2020 to serve a second term, strengthening his support in the district.
As someone who has written about rural Minnesota since the waning days of former Gil Gutknecht's sixth term, we had to wonder who created that copy.
Wikipedia describes the district's political leanings:
From early statehood until after the 2000 census, the district covered only southeast Minnesota. During the 20th century it was generally considered solidly Republican, but it became more of a swing district in the late 20th to early 21st century. In 2004, John Kerry received 47% of the vote in the district. In 2006, Republican Representative Gil Gutknecht lost to Democrat Tim Walz. In March 2017, Walz announced that he would not run for reelection to Congress and instead would run for governor of Minnesota. On paper, the district leans Republican with a CPVI of R+8, but recent elections have been among the closest in the nation, won by less than a single percentage point in both 2016 and 2018.[5]
The entry notes the election of four Democrats within that area since statehood: one-term wonders Thomas Wilson (March 4, 1887 –
March 3, 1889) and William H. Harries (March 4, 1891--March 3, 1893); Tim Penny (January 3, 1983–January 3, 1995) and Walz (2007-2018).
Now, as the Wikipedia entry notes, the district historically included only southeast Minnesota but redistricting created a more swing district. Indeed as the Wikipedia entry for former representative Tim Penny states:
In 1982, Penny won the DFL nomination for the 1st District and upset four-term 2nd District Republican Tom Hagedorn, becoming only the third Democrat to ever represent this district. Leading up to the election, Republicans were divided after the conservative Hagedorn narrowly defeated two-term First District moderate incumbent, Rep. Arlen Erdahl, in a contentious Republican Convention endorsement contest after redistricting; in addition, Democrats made large gains in congressional elections across the country, which contributed to Penny's victory. Penny was reelected in 1984 with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first non-Republican to win reelection in the district since statehood. He never faced another contest nearly that close, winning four more times by an average of 70 percent of the vote.
The Wikipedia entry for Tom Hagedorn reports:
. . .He was elected as a Republican to represent Minnesota's 2nd congressional district in the 94th, 95th, 96th, and 97th congresses, serving from January 3, 1975, to January 3, 1983. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to represent Minnesota's 1st congressional district in the 98th congress in 1982. Hagedorn was succeeded in the House by author, businessman, and musician Tim Penny.
Hagedorn's son Jim Hagedorn was elected to Congress in 2018 from Minnesota's 1st congressional district, which contains much of the same territory Tom Hagedorn had represented.
We're surprised that the obituary doesn't mention the elder Hagedorn's congressional service.
The description of the First as a Democratic stronghold also doesn't match newspaper coverage at the time of the late Hagedorn's 2018 victory. At the Mankato Free Press, Trey Mewes reported in Hagedorn 'excited, humbled' after 1st District victory; Feehan waiting on official returns:
Hagedorn's victory is one of two Democratic congressional seats in Minnesota to flip Republican this year; the other is in northeast Minnesota. It also means southern Minnesota is going back to being a conservative district after 12 years of being represented by Democratic Rep. Tim Walz, who replaced former Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht in 2006. . . .
In some ways, Tuesday's outcome in the 1st District was to be expected. The district has skewed slightly conservative in House races for decades, even when the rest of the country moved left or right on the political spectrum.
"It seems to be its own place doing its own thing," said Kevin Parsneau, political science professor at Minnesota State University.
Parsneau expects the 1st District to remain a toss-up for years to come, given the divide between liberal and conservative interests across southern Minnesota.
"If anything, it's a slightly Republican district that Republicans got back because Tim Walz wouldn't run for re-election," he said. "It would have gone to the incumbent probably, but Walz ran for governor and so there was no incumbent in the race."
When Walz defeated Gutknecht in 2006, Fox News reported in Tim Walz Ousts GOP Stalwart Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota's 1st District:
Democrat Tim Walz, a retired National Guard command sergeant major, upset Gutknecht in southern Minnesota's 1st District, which was once considered reliably Republican . . .
Walz said he wasn't intimidated by the idea of running against Gutknecht, who won with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2004.
"I thought it was much more of a pragmatic district, more evenly split than people said," Walz said Wednesday morning. . . .
And MPR reported in 2006's Walz wins in 1st District:
For months, political experts said that democratic challenger Tim Walz was a good candidate, but nobody could beat Republican Gil Gutknecht. In his concession speech, Gutknecht seemed surprised himself.
"You know I've never done this before. I've never had to call my opponent and say it looks like he's got enough of a lead now with the precincts that are out, that I don't think we can catch him," Gutknecht said.
Gutknecht says his race got caught up in a wave of anger at the Republican Party.
"Because I do believe, fundamentally, people here in southern Minnesota are conservative people. And I don't think you really change that. I just think that this year there was a frustration with the war, and with the president, and with some of the scandals that have been in Washington."
One additional measure: the still living former MN01 United States Representatives include special-election and ten-full-term Al Quie, two-term Republican Arlen Erdahl, six-term Democrat Tim Penny, six-term Republican Gil Gutknecht, and six-term Democrat Tim Walz.
Other than that, sure, Southern Minnesota is a DFL-stronghold, but what would historical records and living people know?
Photo: Six-term Republican U.S. Representative Gil Gilknecht campaigning in 2006.
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