The 2012 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives as well as various state and local elections. Incumbent DemocraticâÂÂFarmerâÂÂLabor U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar faced Republican State Representative Kurt Bills. Klobuchar was reelected in a landslide, defeating Bills by a greater than 2-to-1 margin and carrying all but two of the state's 87 counties by double digits, only narrowly losing the counties of Pipestone and Rock in the state's southwest corner. This was the first time since 1996 that an incumbent Democratic senator was reelected and the first time since 1976 that an incumbent Democratic senator was reelected to this seat.
Incumbent Amy Klobuchar was first elected in 2006 to succeed retiring DFL incumbent Mark Dayton. She beat Republican nominee Mark Kennedy, 58% to 38%. Klobuchar served as Minnesota's only senator between January 3 and July 7, 2009, due to the contested results of Minnesota's senatorial election held the previous year, finally decided in favor of DFLer Al Franken.
The Minnesota DemocraticâÂÂFarmerâÂÂLabor Party held its Senate primary on August 14, 2012.
The Republican Party of Minnesota held its nominating convention in May 2012 and its Senate primary on August 14, 2012.
The Independence Party of Minnesota did not plan to run a candidate in the general election. Party chairman Mark Jenkins said in November 2011 that he saw the Senate election as "a distraction from having our best and brightest engaged in state legislative races". At the party's convention in June 2012, neither candidate was endorsed. Williams won a majority of the votes and came within two votes of the required 60% needed for the party's endorsement. He proceeded with his Senate campaign but the party focused on state legislative races.
On August 29 Klobuchar and Bills held their second debate at the State Fair, sponsored by MPR News. Their third debate, on September 16 in Duluth, was about the nation's struggle with deficit spending and unemployment. The audience was assembled by the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce and Duluth News Tribune.
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This section lists the top contributors by employer. These organizations themselves did not donate, but these numbers include donations from their PACs, members, employees, owners, and their immediate families.
Republican primary<br />
General election<br />
Klobuchar won all eight congressional districts, including three held by Republicans.
Official campaign websites (Archived)