Minnesota Massacre (1978 election)

After the elections of 1974 the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) held both US Senate seats, all the state constitutional offices, and control of the legislature. Four years later Minnesota’s Republican Party (the Independent-Republicans, or IR) took the governorship and both US Senate seats by landslide margins while achieving an even split with Democrats in the State House of Representatives. The stunning turnaround came to be known as the Minnesota Massacre.

Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party came into being with the merger, in 1944, of a resurgent Democratic Party and a Farmer-Labor Party in decline. It grew steadily in the 1950s, led by US Senator Hubert Humphrey and Governor Orville Freeman. Neither of the state’s two major parties dominated Minnesota politics; as late as 1968, however, Republican Governor Harold LeVander had Republican supermajorities in both houses of the legislature.

The DFL took control in the elections of 1970, led by Governor Wendell Anderson, Lieutenant Governor Rudy Perpich, Attorney General Warren Spannaus, and US Senators Humphrey and Walter Mondale. In 1972 it took majorities in both houses of the legislature, and the transformation was complete.

Governor Anderson and the legislature enjoyed productive sessions between 1971 and 1973, leading to Anderson’s unprecedented re-election victory in 1974. He defeated Republican challenger John Johnson by over 400,000 votes: 786,787 (62.8 percent) to 376,722 (29.35 percent.) In a feat unlikely to be repeated, he carried all eighty-seven of Minnesota’s counties. He later appeared on the cover of Time magazine and received praise for the bundle of legislation known as the Minnesota Miracle.

No one could have anticipated the series of events that undid it all. In the summer of 1976 Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia won the Democratic nomination for president and chose Senator Walter Mondale as his vice-presidential candidate. When they won in November, Mondale’s senate seat became vacant. Against the advice of many, Anderson resigned as governor so that his lieutenant governor, Rudy Perpich, could take his place and appoint him to the US Senate. One year later, in January 1978, Hubert Humphrey died. Perpich appointed his widow, Muriel, in his place, putting both Senate seats in the possession of appointees.

As the 1978 midterm elections approached, the US economy suffered stagnation and high inflation. Muriel Humphrey declined to run in the special election to replace her husband as senator. Congressman Donald Fraser won the DFL’s endorsement, but Minneapolis businessman Robert Short narrowly beat him in a bitter and divisive primary election.

The Minnesota Republican Party, by contrast, mustered a unified slate of able and personable candidates: Rudy Boschwitz and David Durenberger for the US Senate, and Congressman Albert Quie for governor. The party’s signature message was broadcast on billboards: “The DFL is going to face something scary—an election.”

The DFL thus approached election day in 1978 with a ticket headed by Governor Perpich (who had come into office by succession), Senator Wendell Anderson (whose so-called self-appointment had displeased many), and Short (unpopular in his own party).

The results vindicated the Republican billboard. Rudy Boschwitz beat Anderson by over 250,000 votes. David Durenberger beat Short by over 400,000 votes. Al Quie defeated Perpich by more than 110,000. The DFL also lost thirty-two seats in the state House of Representatives, leading to an unprecedented split (67 DFLers and 67 IRs) and no party majority on either side. Democrats did not regain both US Senate seats until 2000.