This Minnesota county voted blue for nearly 100 years — until Trump. Can Democrats win it back?

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.

President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in Carlton County laid bare a hard truth for Democrats: As they lurched to the left over the past decade, much of America didn’t follow.

“[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.

As Democrats dissect what went wrong in this year’s election, they may look to places like Carlton County for answers to why they’ve lost support with rural and working-class voters — and how they can win it back. The shift among people in this northeastern Minnesota county had been brewing long before Election Day, fueled by economic anxiety, the urban-rural cultural divide and a feeling that Democrats have forgotten about them.

“Our area used to be solidly Democratic,” said Cloquet Mayor Roger Maki, who’s lived here for decades. “Now, it’s not.”

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.

The debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports was brought up frequently by people in Carlton County. “I feel like that really takes away from a woman’s ability to win,” said Hraban, who disagrees with how Democrats have handled the issue.

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.”

As Hraban and her son left the park on Dunlap Island in Cloquet, 68-year-old Kathy Isaacson strolled nearby, pausing briefly to gaze at the city’s towering voyageur statue. The county’s right turn has been hard for her and some other older residents to stomach.

Isaacson, who lives in the tiny town of Mahtowa, voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and said she was “devastated” by Trump’s victory. She fears for women and their rights, and is afraid Trump’s volatile tendencies could land America in war.

“We want to have leaders that are respected, respectful, humane,” Isaacson said. “Most of what his actions and his words say are cruel, are disrespectful. And I don’t understand how that type of leadership got so many votes.”

Pete Radosevich has been pondering a similar question since he ran for the Minnesota House and lost to GOP Rep. Jeff Dotseth by about 1 percentage point. A “voting matters” sign still hangs on the window of his deserted campaign office in Cloquet. Stacks of campaign signs bearing his and other losing Democrats’ names were left on the floor inside, serving as a sort of political memorial.

At his law office in nearby Esko, Radosevich explained that his party’s brand is badly damaged in Carlton County. He said he heard from voters on the campaign trail who were angry that Minnesota Democrats spent most of a historic $17 billion budget surplus and passed a law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

“It was irresponsible leadership to spend all that money,” Radosevich said.

Some people in Carlton County have begun associating all Democrats with national problems such as inflation and illegal immigration, Radosevich said. They’re upset that undocumented immigrants are being given access to health care and tuition-free college, things they have to work for.

“Democrats are not adequately conveying that they are looking out for the average, ordinary middle-class person. And that’s been the shift,” Radosevich said. “When we focus on the issues that affect 95% of us, I think you can win elections.”

It won’t be easy for Democrats to repair their image and change their message in increasingly polarized communities like Carlton County. Now more than ever, people are separating into political silos, filtering who they talk to and where they get their news from.

But civil political discourse, perhaps the best antidote to this problem, is still possible. Social studies teacher Chris Swanson’s classroom at Cloquet High School is proof of it.

The seniors in Swanson’s Monday morning government class calmly discussed the school’s recent mock election and its gender gap: Most boys voted for Trump while girls favored Harris. They talked, without judgment, about “bro culture” and why Trump resonates more with men. Some students said they even like to debate politics with their parents at home.

Democrats and Republicans could have learned something from the discussion.

“In the classroom, we work toward understanding as much as is possible,” said Swanson, 48, who’s taught at the high school since 2001 and previously served on the City Council. “Turning down the temperature is going to require … people to get back to some level of civil discourse.”

Places like Carlton County, home to a mix of liberal and conservative views, are still within reach for Democrats. Trump defeated Harris here by less than 3 percentage points, just 530 votes. And Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was able to carry the county, winning 54% of the vote.

At VFW Post 3979 in Cloquet, people of all political stripes gathered for their regular Smear card game league. As the room filled with chatter and the aroma of a potluck lunch, a common refrain re-emerged.

“The Democrats ain’t like they used to be,” said 66-year-old Steve Teasck of Cloquet, who drives local veterans to their VA appointments. “My dad was a Democrat, he was a World War II veteran. He always voted Democrat. They were a party for the people, but that’s changed … and I think that’s why they lost.”

Others, like 84-year-old veteran Spencer Moon, weren’t happy with either Trump or the Democratic Party. A uniformed member of Cloquet’s color guard, Moon called Trump a “scumbag” he couldn’t support. The self-described conservative who voted for John McCain and Ronald Reagan said he plugged his nose and voted for Harris this year, while supporting down-ballot Republicans.

This VFW was one of the seemingly rare places where one could find voters who still choose people over party — the type of voters Democrats need. But even Moon said Democrats are heading in the wrong direction and need to correct course.

“I think that the Democratic Party better start moving a little bit farther to the center,” he said.