Paulsen wins in 3rd Congressional District

Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen won reelection in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District on Tuesday night, with the Associated Press calling the race about an hour after polls closed. At that time, Paulsen led DFLer Jim Meffert 58 percent to 37 percent with 80 percent of Hennepin County reporting.

Paulsen, a freshman, won the open seat in the 3rd Congressional District in 2008 with 48 percent of the vote after moderate Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad retired.

Paulsen faced a challenge from Meffert, a former lobbyist and member of the state Parent Teacher Association.

DFLers have been attempting to paint Paulsen as out of touch and tout his close voting record with Rep. Michele Bachmann, with whom he voted 93 percent of the time.

But, the DFL has focused so heavily on Bachmann that Meffert has gotten little help from the party. Paulsen outraised Meffert by $2 million and had seven times more cash on hand by mid-October. He’s run a series of negative television ads against Meffert.

The district was rated a tossup based on the Cook Partisan Voting Index; the district is split evenly between DFLers and Republicans.