If you look at Yougov survey of state rankings, then you will see that Minnesota is ranked 18th in scoring on progressive issues. Minnesota was behind Wisconsin and Michigan. Yet Minnesota is doing better in elections. Why? While even Minnesota can improve what we do, I do think that we have significant differences from national trends in campaigning.
Proud to be a Democrat, Proud of Democratic Leadership and Proud of Democratic Policies
When Democrats are proud to be Democrats and proud of Democratic policies, then we win. Minnesota did lose significant house seats in rural house districts where there is less spoken in that strong kind of pride. Minnesota was especially strong on comparing itself favorably to Wisconsin, where Minnesota's choice of Democratic policy and leadership has really helped the Minnesota economy. Duh, Obama is one of our greatest speakers. How did we ever get talked into not using him? On every poll, Democratic policies score higher, why wouldn't one run on winning numbers?
People Power vs Money Power
Doorknocking is the key to success. Whenever possible the Minnesota Democrats hit every door in highly-Democratic, high-turnover districts. Minnesota held key seats in areas where that strategy was used. In rural areas, getting to every door is not easily done, so this strategy cannot be used there. The money power is getting scary high with state races now going to a million dollars with outsider money. Yet 20 dedicated people doorknocking every weekend can hold against the money. We say thank you to our dedicated people often, they are the heroes of our party.
Physical Ballots that are Machine Counted
All of our ballots are physical ballots that are then counted by machine. Later there are random count checks to ensure that counts are correct. For any challenge, we have the original ballots to go back and count. Our results come in quickly, yet we do not have power outage problems. We can have many people voting at one time, so our lines are shorter. The nation could learn from this experience.
Messaging Power through the Internet and People Connections
Local news organizations are Republican owned. Facebook connections and other internet ways of spreading the news is our fight back mechanism. People connections re-enforce those messages. In rural areas, there is less internet access and the messaging suffers.
Outreach to Other Communities
Minnesota is mostly white but does have significant ethic, racial, and social communities that the local party has reached out and included. We have very visible candidates from those communities. Local efforts for those candidates help everyone on the Democratic ticket. The state Democratic party very intentionally puts at-large members of these communities on its state executive board.
Expertise and Experience Built into Campaigning
We ask candidates that we recruit to commit to running twice, if they can. This builds skill and expertise. We support those candidates in running twice. As much as possible, we build local talent that is committing to continuing in campaign roles. People who burn out or who have to stop for health reasons are expected to continue on as mentors.
We Help Each Other
Helping in another district is called "flying". Some people always fly to areas where help is needed. Stable strong districts host carpools of flying squads. It helps. Just the looks on people's faces of the target campaign makes the effort worthwhile. Special groups like labor and Take Action will also target marginal areas. Flying is also done by individuals acting on their own. Calling can even be done from an urban area into a rural area.
Same Day Registration and Early No-excuse Voting
People can register at the polls on the same day as voting. Minnesota successfully fought off the requirement for Photo IDs, allowing multiple methods of identification including people vouching for one another. This year there is no excuse for absentee voting. Early voting includes the option of just walking in and voting at city or county offices before the election. That especially helps night shift workers and families with children.
Adversity Reminds Us that Community is Important
Laugh if you want but winter is our secret ingredient. Winter reminds us all that anyone of us could end up needing help at anytime. So every winter builds that Democratic value of community. Every winter reminds us that government services like snow plowing are very important. While every state cannot have our winters, each state does have weather events. During those weather events, speak about the value of community and the value of government services. Yes, do politicize disasters. It can be done gracefully through expressing gratitude for help from neighbors and help from government. "Government is good" should be our Democratic theme.
Special Note about the Minnesota Democratic Party Name
In Minnesota, the Democratic party is the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, called the "DFL" for short. We also use the "GOP" to refer to Republicans, who once branded themselves as the Grand Old Party. People in the comments might use those names. I do not think that different names have contributed to our success, so don't emulate that.
Hopefully, fellow Minnesotans will add their own themes in the comments as to why we do better.