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This is the 1984 race. The latest: 2026 →

1984Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated

1984 election for Minnesota House District 51A

Minnesota House of Representatives · Minnesota

Gordon Backlund (R) won with 50.2% of the vote, defeating Sharon Coleman (D) by 0.4 points, flipping a seat Democrats held.

Gordon BacklundRepublican · winner
50.2%7,314
Sharon ColemanDemocrat · incumbent
49.8%7,260
14,574 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 1984

Races before and after

EvenD+12.11982R+0.41984D+1.41986D+2.71988

Source: Past results: 99chambers results archive (MEDSL, Klarner, state election offices)

The candidates

Gordon Backlund (R)Sharon Coleman (D)