1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1980 election for Minnesota Senate District 43
Minnesota State Senate · Minnesota
James Ramstad (R) won with 53.9% of the vote, defeating Emily Staples (D) by 7.9 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
James RamstadRepublican · winner
53.9%19,190
Emily StaplesDemocrat · incumbent
46.1%16,390
35,580 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1980
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET