1990Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1990 election for Minnesota Senate District 17
Minnesota State Senate · Minnesota
Joanne Benson (R) won with 50.6% of the vote, defeating Doug Risberg (D) by 16.3 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Joanne BensonRepublican · winner
50.6%13,319
Doug RisbergDemocrat
34.3%9,029
Ed GerchyIndependent
15.1%3,979
26,327 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 1990
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET