2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota
The 2008 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 4, 2008. After a legal battle lasting over eight months, the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) candidate, Al Franken, defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in one of the closest elections in the history of the Senate, with Coleman's Senate predecessor Dean Barkley taking third place. Franken took his oath of office on July 7, 2009, more than half a year after the end of Coleman's term on January 3, 2009.
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Franken: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Coleman: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Barkley: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Tie: 30–40% 40–50% 50% No votes | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Minnesota |
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When the initial count was completed on November 18, Franken was trailing Coleman by 215 votes. The close margin triggered a mandatory recount. After reviewing ballots that had been challenged during the recount and counting 953 wrongly rejected absentee ballots, the State Canvassing Board officially certified the recount results with Franken holding a 225-vote lead.
On January 6, 2009, Coleman's campaign filed an election contest and on April 13, a three-judge panel dismissed Coleman's Notice of Contest and ruled that Franken had won the election by 312 votes. Coleman's appeal of the panel's decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court was unanimously rejected on June 30, and he subsequently conceded the election. Franken was sworn in as the junior senator from Minnesota on July 7. With a margin of just 0.01%, this election was the closest race of the 2008 Senate election cycle.