Weeks before the election, there was little talk about any upset in nearly every congressional race across Minnesota.

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The lone exception to incumbent representatives rolling to re-election came in the 2nd District, which pitted incumbent DFLer Bill Luther against Republican John Kline for the third time. Luther narrowly beat Kline in each of the last two races but after redistricting Kline easily beat Luther Tuesday.

This was a hard-fought, tooth-and-nail campaign which drew national support for both candidates. Redistricting had put Luther into Kennedy's district, but Luther opted to move several miles into the Second District to face Kline.

Kline held a nearly 12 percentage point lead when The Associated Press declared Kline the winner at about 12:45 a.m.

Kline's victory means Minnesota's Congressional delegation would be evenly split between the DFL and GOP, with each party having four seats.

As expected, the remaing incumbent Minnesota congressman were re-elected. The Associated Press declared two Twin Cities congressmen the first Minnesota election winners of the evening.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Republican Jim Ramstad was declared the winner in District 3, which encompasses much of the western and southwestern suburbs.

The AP declared DFLer Martin Sabo a winner at the same time. Sabo is a longtime DFLer in the 5th District, which covers most of Minneapolis and stretches into some first-ring suburbs.

Republican Gil Gutknecht was declared the winner in District 1 at about 11 p.m., which encompasses much of southeastern Minnesota. Republican Mark Kennedy was declared the winner at about 11:30 p.m.

When the Kennedy race was called, incumbent DFLer Collin Peterson held a comfortable lead in District 7 in northwestern Minnesota. Veteran DFLer Jim Oberstar also held a comfortable lead in the 8th District in northeast Minnesota as midnight approached.