This Minnesota county voted blue for nearly 100 years -- until Trump

CLOQUET, MINN. – For as long as almost anyone here could remember, this working-class county just southwest of Duluth was a Democratic stronghold. Voters in Carlton County, home to the Fond du Lac Reservation and picturesque Jay Cooke State Park, hadn’t supported a Republican presidential candidate since before the Great Depression. That nearly centurylong streak, which began before Gordy’s Hi-Hat and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed gas station opened in Cloquet, came to an end earlier this month as the county shifted right along with much of the nation.

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“[Democrats] are just so out of touch with what the rest of us are going through,” said Katie Hraban of Cloquet, as she lifted her nearly 2-year-old son Kodie onto a rocking horse at a playground by the St. Louis River. Hraban, 31, was once among the nearly two-thirds of Carlton County voters who chose to re-elect Barack Obama. Now she bristles at a Democratic Party she feels is focused on fringe issues, not the plight of average Americans. She said the increased cost of living under this Democratic administration has squeezed her family’s pocketbook while she stays at home with Kodie.

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Carlton County is predominantly rural, white and working class, with a median household income lower than Minnesota’s average. Its politics have been shaped, in many ways, by the local economy. Factories closed over time and jobs left with them. Cloquet’s largest employer, the Sappi paper mill, doesn’t employ as many people as it used to, Maki said.

As the county’s economy contracted, so did the once-strong ranks of Democratic union members. But no Republican had effectively tapped into the area’s unease until Trump. He narrowly lost Carlton County in 2016 and 2020 before becoming the first Republican presidential candidate since Herbert Hoover to win it earlier this month. Many voters here have embraced Trump’s populist message and rejected Democratic positions on abortion and transgender rights, Maki said.

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Hraban said she has no problem with the transgender community otherwise and believes “everyone deserves an opportunity to live the life they want to live.” She’s frustrated with Democrats who look down on Trump supporters instead of trying to understand their concerns: “They really think that they have a huge moral compass and that people who voted for Trump have no morals.”

https://www.startribune.com/this-minnesota-county-voted-blue-for-nearly-100-years-until-trump-can-democrats-win-it-back/601185196