DFL replace Iron range Senate Minority Leader with Twin cities leader

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

1-No one really cares about this except legislative insider types.
2-Trump doesn't know about this either and if he does a campaign rally here raving about that he'd be seen as just raving about things no one really finds engaging.
3-Bakk's district is heavily based around Duluth suburbs and the rural parts of NE Minnesota Hillary won, (Lake and Cook counties.) It even narrowly voted for Hillary as a whole.
4-Tina Smith and Tim Walz did roughly equal in both Bakk and Kent's seats.
5-I really hope the MN GOP makes this their #1 campaign issue in 2020, it's vaguely reminiscent of 2018's "rave constantly about Keith Ellison and claim every statewide Democratic candidate is him."

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The DFL could lose every Iron Range seat Trump carried they hold (note that most weren't close even in 2016) and still hold a healthy majority in the State House. There's not really a lot. And the population trends are not good for the GOP at all. One thing that'll be clear after the 2020 census is that now even Minneapolis and St. Paul are gaining population after decades of decline and grew faster than the state. Almost all Obama-Trump areas meanwhile lost population and the previously booming exurbs have significantly slowed. The base map even before any gerrymandering is going to suck for them. And in terms of winning statewide it's clear if it didn't even work in 2016 it's not going to work after 4+ years of population shifts.

If the MN GOP wants to double down on rural strength I'm fine with that, it's not going to be a winning strategy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The main reasons for Bakk being ousted is his positions on gun control and especially environmental issues, due to his opposition to many mining regulations. Obviously his region plays a role in those things but he wasn't ousted just based on being in the "wrong" area, or for being a man, which honestly would be even worse than if it was for his region alone.

And probably the decisive factor was him just being around too long.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The main reasons for Bakk being ousted is his positions on gun control and especially environmental issues, due to his opposition to many mining regulations. Obviously his region plays a role in those things but he wasn't ousted just based on being in the "wrong" area, or for being a man, which honestly would be even worse than if it was for his region alone.

And probably the decisive factor was him just being around too long.

I'm confident that Minnesota will swing to Trump this year.  Minnesota is finally a real swing state.

https://www.minnpost.com/national/2019/12/after-strong-showing-in-2018-democrats-may-be-heading-into-2020-with-an-advantage-in-suburban-minnesota