The Daily staff’s live coverage of the Nov. 2 election night. The map below features photos being updated live from the three campaigns’ election night parties. Click on a points on the map to see what’s happening during the night. For a larger view of the map please click here.
View MN Daily Election 2010 in a larger map

Update 7:00 p.m.: After a relatively slow morning, the lines at polling locations near the University of Minnesota started picking up in the afternoon, as classes wrapped up.  At the University Lutheran Church polling place on 13th Ave. SE, people in line said an election judge threw out a man who was offering to vouch for anyone in line who needed to register. They reported seeing two Minneapolis police at the location shortly before 6 p.m., when the man was thrown out. However, Minneapolis police Sgt. Bill Palmer said police stay away from polling places unless called, and there were no calls reported at that location.

Update 7:25 p.m.: The Coffman Union polling location has seen about 600 voters, 400 of which were on-site registers as of 7 p.m. Meanwhile, the nearby Grace University Lutheran Church had approximately 1,000 voters. At Van Cleve Park in the Como neighborhood, about 50 percent of registered voters for the location had shown up by 7 p.m. Update 7:30 p.m.: The Independent Party campaign kicked off it’s election night party at the Sheraton West in Minnetonka around 7 p.m. The DFLers will start their event at 8 p.m. in the Minneapolis Hilton, while Republicans will be meeting up at the Sheraton in Bloomington. Update 8:02 p.m.: Polls are now closed, and results will begin rolling in. Update 8:10 p.m.: Republicans are hoping to switch up the Democratic stronghold on Congress this election, and early results have shown gains. Republicans won U.S. Senate seats in Indiana and Arizona. In Kentucky, Florida and Delaware, Republicans facing Democratic incumbents picked up three U.S. House seats, the Associated Press reported. To take control of the House the GOP would need at least 40 seats this election. Update 8:34 p.m.: The Secretary of State’s website shows Mark Dayton, DFL, leading Republican Tom Emmer and Independence Party candidate, Tom Horner, in early results. With just over 1 percent of precincts in the state reporting, Dayton is leading with 64 percent. Emmer has 24 percent and Horner has 10 percent. Currently, 30,413 votes has been counted and reported. Update 9:02 p.m.: Mark Dayton leads the gubernatorial race with 52 percent of the vote. Emmer has 35 percent and Horner 12 percent. So far, just over 15 percent of precincts have reported their results. DFL Update 9:11 p.m.: Supporters have been trickling in to the DFL’s party at the Minneapolis Hilton. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been working the crowd and answering questions. On the Republican control of the U.S. House, Klobuchar said she hopes it will inspire more bipartisanship from the new members. DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez said the current results for the Minnesota governor’s race are too premature to call. “Right now, this is like reading tea leaves,” he said, noting that he’ll be more interested when 30 to 40 percent of precincts are reporting. GOP Update 9:22 p.m.: Just an hour after polls closed in the state a crowd gathered for the Republican event in the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton hotel in Bloomington. Many in the room circled around Rep. Michele Bachmann as she prepared for a TV appearance and erupted when her face appeared on the screen behind them and she was introduced by Brian Williams on NBC. A few moments later came another cheer when she was introduced again, this time with Chris Matthews on MSNBC. A supporter held a sign behind Bachmann that caught Keith Olbermann’s attention – it read “How’s the TINGLE, Chris?” DFL Update 9:28 p.m.: The DFL party just began. Mayors R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman have each taken the stage, whipping up the crowd at the prospect of the first DFL governor since 1986. “The era of Tim Pawlenty is over, the era of Democratic governors is back!” Rybak said. Coleman echoed Rybak’s enthusiasm, saying he’s ready to serve as a Mayor under a Democratic governor. “I just want to say thank you, on behalf of all Minnesotans and future generations,” Coleman said. Supporters are crowding around the stage and the room is beginning to fill. IP Update 9:33 p.m.: Tom Horner arrived at his election party. After sending buses to all corners of the state yesterday for a last-minute campaign push, Horner said he feels great, even though he trailed gubernatorial candidates Tom Emmer and Mark Dayton in pre-election polls. “We knew this race would be challenging from the get go,” he said.Horner took the stage shortly after his arrival and briefly thanked his supporters and staff. Former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson, who endorsed Horner’s campaign, spoke about the partisan divisions in government, saying the next governor will “inherit a culture that is frankly frightening.” Carlson said true governance is about “bringing differing peoples together for the purpose of making democracy work,” something he thinks Horner can accomplish. GOP Update 9:50 p.m.: The first to take the stage at the Republican party was U.S. House candidate Teresa Collett. With 32 percent of the vote at the time, she trailed well behind Democrat Betty McCollum. And while she took time to thank her supporters and her opponent McCollum for “running a campaign on the issues,” she stopped short of conceding the race and added a reminder to other candidates in “a position where it looks, but has not been decided…that God is in control.” Update 9:52 p.m.: With over 27 percent of precincts reporting, Mark Dayton still leads in the gubernatorial race with 49 percent of the vote. Emmer’s moved up slightly and holds 38 percent, with Horner at 12 percent. Update 9:56 p.m.: U.S. Congressional districts in the Twin Cities area are shaping up. With over 72 percent of all precincts reporting, Betty McCollum of the 4th District is leading with 62 percent. Her opponent, Teresa Collett, has 32 percent. With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Keith Ellison of the 5th District has 69 percent of the vote. His closest rival, Republican Joel Demos, has 23 percent. With 35 percent of precincts reporting, the race between Michelle Bachmann and Tarryl Clark in the 6th District remains up in the air. Bachmann, however, remains ahead with 51 percent. Clark has 41 percent. DFL Update 10:09 p.m.: Sen. Al Franken is addressing the crowd at the DFL event, following Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Speaking about national trends, Klobuchar stressed bipartisanship once again. She also praised Democratic gains in the U.S. Senate. “Thanks to the voters of Delaware, I will not be serving with a witch,” Klobuchar said. “The witch has melted!” Franken said the country’s priority should be strengthening the economy by putting people back to work. He said the country ought to reinvest in education and infrastructure. GOP Update 10:38 p.m.: With Emmer trailing in the early results, the mood is still high in Bloomington at the GOP Victory Party. Most students remain hopeful that late reporting precincts will swing the race back to even. And for some, the governor’s race was one small piece of the evening. “Dayton’s up, and that’s what I thought,” University of Minnesota sophomore Alex Miller said. “But as long as [Michele] Bachmann wins and we take the U.S. House [of Representatives] I’ll be happy.” Update 10:50 p.m.: With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Dayton leads with 47 percent of the vote. Emmer has 40 percent and Horner remains at 12 percent. Update 11:10 p.m.: Republicans won the majority in the U.S. House and made gains in the U.S. Senate – though the Democrats retain their hold on the chamber, the New York Times reported. Voter discontent with the current political state helped lead Republican triumphs over Democratic incumbents. “For far too long Washington has been doing what’s best for Washington, not what’s best for the American people,” House Republican leader John A. Boehner said in a speech. “Tonight, that begins to change.” Update 11:35 p.m.: GOP Chair Tony Sutton has announced Tom Emmer gained 60,000 votes in Hennepin County following a change in numbers reported by the County. Emmer now down by 5 percent. “It’s going to be a long night,” he said. DFL Update 11:45 p.m.: Klobuchar just came out to say that Dayton would be arriving to the party shortly. Dayton’s son Andrew was in the Hilton’s lobby earlier in the night, so it appears they’ve been in the building for some time. The polls haven’t moved in some time (43 percent of precincts are reporting), with Dayton locked in at 47 percent, Emmer at 39 percent and Horner trailing with 12 percent. “It looks incredibly good for Mark Dayton tonight,” Klobuchar said. Update 12:07 a.m.: With 50 percent of precincts reporting, Mark Dayton leads the gubernatorial race with 45 percent, while Emmer has 42 percent. Horner has 12 percent and said at this campaign party “I do want to let whoever wins this race know I’m certainly standing by ready to work with that person to build a better Minnesota.” Update 12:12 a.m.: The 8th Congressional district might be one of the tightest races of the night. Current numbers show Republican Chip Cravaack, a first-time politician, edging out Jim Oberstar by less than one percent. Cravaack has 47.41 percent of the vote, while Oberstar has 47.32 percent – a difference of 50 votes, with 16 percent of precincts in the district reporting.