Eight of Minnesota's nine U.S. Senate and House members retained their seats in Tuesday's election, with most of them winning decisively. Here's what happened:
8 state incumbents keep seats
November 8, 2012 at 3:25AM
Klobuchar coasts
Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar captured 65 percent of the vote against her Republican challenger, Kurt Bills. Klobuchar's win helped Democrats retain the majority in the Senate.
Nolan returns
Former Democratic congressman Rick Nolan defeated first-term Republican Chip Cravaack in the Eighth Congressional District race. Nolan represented the state in Congress from 1975 to 1981, before returning to Minnesota to start a business career.
Encores
Democrats Tim Walz, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison and Collin Peterson and Republicans John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Michele Bachmann will return to Washington. Though Democrats in Minnesota picked up an extra seat with Nolan's victory, Republicans will retain control of the 435-seat House.
Back to work
Members of the House and Senate are scheduled to return to Washington, D.C., next week after a nearly two-month fall recess that allowed candidates to hit the campaign trail in earnest.
Corey Mitchell is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau. Twitter: @StribMitchell
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