Keith Ellison Calls Minnesota Vote a 'Total Repudiation' of Donald Trump

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called Tuesday's Democratic wins in statewide races in his state a national rebuke of President Donald Trump, telling an election-night rally that voters had delivered "a smackdown of Trumpism."

Ellison spoke after winning a third term. Minnesota spent much of the past year at the center of the administration's immigration crackdown and its fights with the state over federal money, and Ellison argued that voters had punished Trump for both.

"What we're seeing across this country is a turning point in our nation's history," Ellison said. "It is a total repudiation of Donald Trump, and it is a smackdown of Trumpism."

What Keith Ellison Said About Trump and Minnesota

Ellison opened by saying that "Donald Trump literally demanded that we turn on each other, but we refused." He said the president had demanded that Minnesotans turn on their Somali neighbors and on their immigrant and refugee neighbors, and that each time residents had said, "No way, never." When Trump demanded that they turn on their trans neighbors, Ellison said, the answer was "Absolutely not."

He then listed the federal actions he says targeted the state. "He tried to take our food stamps to feed our kids, but we sued him and we beat him," Ellison said, adding that the administration had also gone after child care and school funding.

On immigration enforcement, he said federal agents had used tear gas, pulled residents from homes and cars, and "even shot and killed two Minnesotans." He was referring to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, the immigration enforcement campaign in Minnesota. Fox 9 has covered where the criminal investigations stand.

Ellison also blamed "a crazy war with Iran" and tariffs for higher costs. "While Minnesotans paid more at the pump, America's biggest oil companies made more than 130 billion in profits in just six months of Trump's war," he said. That figure matches an analysis of U.S. oil and gas company profits, which found the industry earned more than $130 billion from April through September, compared with less than $47 billion a year earlier.

He accused Trump of rigging the economy for "his rich buddies in the Epstein class" and called scapegoating "the oldest trick in the damn book."

How Minnesota Voted

The results back the scale of the night in Minnesota itself. With 94 percent of the vote counted, Ellison beat Republican Ron Schutz, nearly 55 percent to 45 percent. In 2022, he won by less than a point, 50.4 percent to 49.5 percent.

Further up the ballot, Fox 9's results show Senator Amy Klobuchar won the governor's race over Republican Lisa Demuth, 55.5 percent to 42.6 percent, and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan beat Republican Michele Tafoya for the U.S. Senate, 53.7 percent to 43.6 percent. Republicans held the 6th, 7th and 8th Districts, and the 1st District race remained too close to call.

Whether the night amounts to a national verdict, as Ellison argued, is his reading of the results. Nationally, Trump's approval stands at 38.3 percent, with 58.6 percent disapproving, in PolitiKool's polling average. His approval on the economy is lower still, at 29.6 percent, according to PolitiKool's polling average. An AP-NORC poll conducted July 23-27 found two-thirds of Americans said the Iran war had not been worth fighting, and only 28 percent approved of Trump's handling of Iran.

The Record Behind Ellison's Lawsuits

Ellison's "we beat him" line holds up, though the wins are mostly court orders that block the cuts while the cases continue, not final judgments. One of the three cases ended in an agreement with the administration.

What Happens Next

Ellison begins his third term with two of the three cases, over SNAP and child care funding, still at the preliminary-injunction stage, where the orders can still be appealed. The education case was settled by agreement. Klobuchar won the governor's race, and the shape of the Legislature, where the House is deadlocked at 67-67 in the results, will determine how much room the new governor has to work with.

"Tonight, Minnesotans, we saw right through it," Ellison told the crowd. Whether other states saw the same thing is a question the rest of the night's results will answer.