2010Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
2010 election for Minnesota Senate District 17
Minnesota State Senate · Minnesota
Sean Nienow (R) won with 56.0% of the vote, defeating Rick Olseen (D) by 12.2 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Sean NienowRepublican · winner
56.0%21,171
Rick OlseenDemocrat · incumbent
43.8%16,569
37,802 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 2010
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET