How Trump won big on Election Night

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday swept the critical Rust Belt and returned Georgia to the Republican column in a decisive victory that rejected Vice President Kamala Harris’ vision for the country and prompted Democrats to dissect what went wrong.

Democrats also lost their narrow majority in the Senate, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar won her bid for a fourth term by a smaller margin than past races.

Republicans also scored victories in the Minnesota House, where the chamber could end up tied, something that has not happened in more than 40 years.

Trump also managed to flip four Minnesota counties – Blue Earth, Nicollet, Winona and Carlton – that voted for President Biden in 2020.

But Hamline University political science professor David Schultz said the results should not have come as a surprise, noting that certain voting blocs have shifted away from the Democratic Party in recent years.

"It almost seems as if the base of the Democratic Party is collapsing and consolidating at this point," he said. "We should think about the fact that Minnesota – there are 87 counties. And what’s happened over the last few years is that Democrats are winning fewer and fewer of those counties."

He also pointed out that the party no longer connects with working-class and Black and Latino voters in the ways it once did.

While Klobuchar won reelection, she garnered a smaller share of the votes than in past cycles.

"The fact that she did not win this election at the same percentages that she had won her previous elections, including against somebody who most people would describe as a fairly weak candidate, should also come as a warning sign to her," he said.

He said the Minnesota House composition – which stands tied, with some races still too close to call – could be because Democrats misread their 2022 victories.

"I think they misinterpreted the vote from two years ago, and they’re paying that price now," he said.