Polls closed across Minnesota at 8 p.m. Tuesday, and election officials began counting ballots in the Minnesota midterms. Anyone who was in line by that time could still vote, keeping the count open for people already waiting.
The first numbers will come from ongoing processing in Hennepin County, where unofficial results continued to move through the count. That early batch will likely include the vast majority of precincts, giving voters the first broad look at where the races stand.
Minnesota gubernatorial race
Minnesota's gubernatorial race was one of the biggest storylines on the ballot. The winner would almost certainly become the state's first woman governor, which made the count more closely watched as ballots were tallied.
The U.S. Senate race was also on the ballot, with Tina Smith's seat at stake. Democrats won control of the Senate, taking 53 seats to 47, and CBS News projected they would take control of the House as well.
David Crowley in Wisconsin
The broader night also carried another result across state lines: CBS News projected that David Crowley would win the Wisconsin governor's race, defeating Republican Rep Tom Tiffany. Crowley won the August 11 primary by about 4,000 votes over Francesca Hong, and Tony Evers was prevented from running again because of term limits.
That result sat alongside the Minnesota count as election officials continued to process returns. A polling station in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood saw major turnout Tuesday evening, a sign that the closing hours still mattered to the final tally.
For Minnesota voters following the governor's race and the Senate contest, the next step is the same one election workers had already started: counting the ballots already cast and adding the results as they come in. The live picture will keep shifting as Hennepin County and other election officials post unofficial results through the night.
