1956 Election Cycle

Minnesota held its third presidential primary in March and its last until 1992 with President Dwight Eisenhower and Tennessee U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver winning the GOP and DFL primaries respectively. Eisenhower’s victory in November over Adlai Stevenson shrunk to single digits this cycle.

As a result, the GOP was only able to flip one of the major offices lost in the 1954 DFL wave: former Treasurer Val Bjornson won back his old seat by notching just shy of 4,000 more votes than incumbent Arthur Hansen. The remaining five DFL incumbents holding statewide office on the ballot were reelected by single digits: Governor Orville Freeman, Lieutenant Governor Karl Rolvaag, Secretary of State Joseph Donovan, Attorney General Miles Lord, and Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner Paul Rasmussen.

All nine incumbent U.S. Representatives – five DFLers and four Republicans – won another term in Washington, D.C.

Associate Justice Leroy Matson and appointed Justice William P. Murphy were both victorious in elections to the state Supreme Court.

Elections

Date Office Stage Winners Details
11/06/1956 State House, District 12 General Reuben Wee (Nonpartisan) won with 3,176 votes (50.69%) and a winning margin of +1.37
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent
Reuben Wee Incumbent Man Nonpartisan 3,176 50.69
Regner (R.J.) Christiansen Man Nonpartisan 3,090 49.31
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11/06/1956 State House, District 12 General Graham Fuller (Nonpartisan) won with 2,313 votes (50.23%) and a winning margin of +0.46
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent
Graham Fuller Incumbent Man Nonpartisan 2,313 50.23
W.C. Thompson Man Nonpartisan 2,292 49.77
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11/06/1956 State House, District 11 General Roy H. Cummings (Nonpartisan) won with 3,311 votes (63.62%) and a winning margin of +27.25
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent
Roy H. Cummings Incumbent Man Nonpartisan 3,311 63.62
Egbert D. Smith Man Nonpartisan 1,893 36.38
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11/06/1956 State House, District 11 General Don Mitchell (Nonpartisan) won with 5,083 votes (50.98%) and a winning margin of +1.97
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent
Don Mitchell Man Nonpartisan 5,083 50.98
Wayne R. Bassett Incumbent Man Nonpartisan 4,887 49.02
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11/06/1956 U.S. House, District 01 General August H. Andresen (Republican) won with 92,092 votes (61.46%) and a winning margin of +22.92
Candidate Gender Party Votes Percent
August H. Andresen Incumbent Man Republican 92,092 61.46
Arnold L. Fredriksen Man Democratic-Farmer-Labor 57,747 38.54
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