Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., won the 4th District congressional seat Tuesday. This will be her third term.
When the final results came in at the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, supporters mobbed McCollum, rushing to give her pats on the back, while reporters went after her in hopes of a photo.
McCollum was the first woman from Minnesota to be elected to the U.S. Congress in 2000. She said she was pleased to win the election.
“The families in the 4th district, after meeting with them over the past few months, have once again given me an opportunity to serve them in Congress,” McCollum said.
McCollum said she thought she won because her supporters wanted their voices heard.
“I listened very carefully to the needs of the families in the 4th district, and I believe that they feel that I will continue to be a hard advocate for them,” she said.
McCollum said she will continue to fight for more money for college students and “point out how the state of Minnesota needs to re-invest into our future.”
McCollum’s Republican challenger, Patrice Bataglia, said she called McCollum to congratulate her and wish her the best on her next term.
Despite the outcome, Bataglia said she was proud of her campaign.
“We worked hard,” she said. “I appreciate and thank all the volunteers for that.
“Today is about what’s right in America and about people standing up and being heard. The people were heard, and Betty McCollum will be our next congresswoman,” Bataglia said.
A Republican has not won the 4th District congressional seat in 57 years.
Many students studying in the St. Paul Student Union or the Classroom Office Building on election night didn’t vote for a congressional candidate, or just didn’t vote at all.
Sophomore Nancy Vang was one student who did vote for a congressional candidate. At first, she didn’t recall who she voted for.
“Something Vento?” she said. “He was an Independent.”
Vang said she didn’t pay much attention to the congressional race and instead focused on the presidential election.
“The thing is, I’m not really into politics,” she said. “I don’t watch too much TV anyways.”
First-year student Adam Lewis said he voted a straight democratic ticket. He agrees with most of the democratic issues and felt comfortable that McCollum would do the best job, he said.
“I just thought it would be the easiest,” he said. “I was really uninformed except for the presidential candidate.”
First-year student Nikalus Clegg just voted for president and didn’t vote for any congressional candidate.
“I don’t know anything about them, and I didn’t see any debates,” he said. “I didn’t even recognize their names.”
Erik Schmidt, an applied economics junior didn’t vote. He said it’s better not to vote if you’re uninformed.
“I never really follow or know what’s going on in the races,” he said. “I should look at it, I know I should, but I’m not a fan of politics.”
