Democrat Doron Clark Dominates Special Election for Minnesota State Senate Vacancy
The special election was called following the death of former Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic (D).
The special election occurred today to fill a vacancy in the Minnesota State Senate. This was the first special election for the state’s upper legislative chamber in 2025. The Democratic and Republican candidates were selected through primaries two weeks ago.
Partisan control of the state’s upper legislative chamber was determined by the results of the race for Minnesota State Senate District 60. So far this year, the chamber has been divided between 33 Democrats and 33 Republicans.
The vacancy in this district occurred after former Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, a Democrat, passed away from ovarian cancer. She represented District 60 from January 2012 to December 2024. She was re-elected to her final term unopposed in November 2022.
Minnesota State Senate (34 Democrats, 33 Republicans)
For District 60, Democrat Doron Clark won with 91.3% (7,783) against Republican Abigail Wolters with 8.8% (746). 8,529 votes counted.
In 2022, Clark was elected as Chair of the Minnesota Senate District 60 Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party. Meanwhile, Wolters was the Republican nominee for State House District 60B last November - losing 83.0-17.0 against Democratic incumbent Mohamud Noor.
Minnesota State Senate District 60 covers parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County - taking in parts of the Northeast, University and Cedar-Riverside areas.
All 67 seats in the Minnesota State Senate will next be contested for regular four-year terms in November 2026. While today’s special election breaks a political tie in the State Senate, the State House remains gridlocked awaiting its own special election. The attempt to fill the vacancy there was also originally set to occur today. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Governor Tim Waltz (D) acted too quickly in laying out the schedule for the special election.