Minnesota Prairie Roots

WAVE TO GO, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Maine, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and on and on. All contributed to the blue wave sweeping the nation in Tuesday’s mid-term elections. I couldn’t be more excited about the results, with the exception of some localized races.

It’s good to feel optimistic, to feel like “we the people” are reclaiming our country from the brink of disaster. I’ve felt for nearly two years now like the United States has been failing on so many levels under the leadership of a narcissistic, power-hungry president (and his minions) who could care less about the people.

Election results, which now put Congress in DFL control, give me hope that this country will see a restoration in the balance of power (among executive, legislative and judicial branches), an end to the corruption which has marked this presidency, and real change that will move us back into a good place.

It’s clear from election results that people are fed up with out-of-control prices, tariffs, trade wars, the Iran War, illegal immigration enforcement, unaffordable healthcare, constant belittling of people, hateful rhetoric, attacks on free speech and the press, destruction of the environment, gutting of government agencies, and on and on. You add your own concerns.

In Minnesota, we’ve elected our first female governor, Senator Amy Klobuchar. Ohio did the same. Minnesotans also elected the country’s first female Native American senator. Our neighbors to the east in Wisconsin voted in their first Black governor and Georgia elected its first Black woman to that state office. Texas will welcome its first Latina governor. And in Michigan, voters elected the first Muslim to the U.S. Senate. All are DFLers.

It was a big night, a big blue wave, for the Democratic party. If the President was expecting an endorsement of him and his policies when he asked voters to vote like he was on the ballot, well, that didn’t work out so well for him. He was resoundingly defeated. It seems he’s losing his grip on those who believed his promises to Make America Great Again.

In my U.S. First Congressional District in southern Minnesota, typically a Republican stronghold, voters flipped the seat. Jake Johnson, a high school math teacher, is the apparent winner over the incumbent Republican by a slim margin of 323 votes. Representative Brad Finstad has asked for a recount. I’m thrilled that, if results hold, I will have a representative who listens, who will continue to host town halls, who seems to genuinely and deeply care about the people he will serve.

We need that now more than ever. A willingness to listen. A willingness to stand up to the President and his policies. A willingness to work together for the good of all, not just the good of the wealthy and those with a singular, selfish agenda.

I’m excited about my local city council, which will now have four women serving, joining two councilmen and the mayor. On the school board, though, the only Latino on the ballot failed to get elected, a major failure on the part of voters, in my opinion. We needed his representation for our diverse community.

Republicans retained control of state House and Senate seats in my districts, another disappointment. But their challengers did well. That should send a strong message to the incumbents.

All in all, Tuesday’s election results give me hope that life will get better here in America.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling