Tuesday marked one of the most anticipated and stressed-over U.S. elections in recent memory. As votes are still counted across the country, here are some early takeaways from Minnesota, which was called for Democrat Kamala Harris:

Anecdotal reports suggest strong voter turnout in Minnesota

Minnesota officials were hopeful this election would see the state return to leading the nation in voter turnout, and so far, it seems turnout is once again high.

Secretary of State Steve Simon said Monday that more than 1.1 million Minnesotans cast their ballots before Election Day, nearly double the previous record for a nonpandemic election. And at that time, more than 150,000 absentee ballots sent to voters had yet to be returned. The Secretary of State's Office reported Tuesday that 1,271,636 absentee ballots had been accepted.

Election officials in Blaine said polls had been busier than in 2020 — although 1.9 million people voted early that year with the pandemic raging. One official in Blaine, Shannon Mclean, said polls had barely calmed down on Election Day.

"We had 30-plus people waiting outside at 7 a.m. We've been busy all day," she said.

Anecdotes of strong turnout were also reported in Chaska, Duluth, Bloomington, St. Paul and Bemidji.

Over the previous 12 presidential elections, Minnesota has ranked No. 1 in voter turnout nine times and second three times, losing to Maine on each occasion, according to a report from the New Hampshire secretary of state.

Minnesota came in second to Maine during the 2022 midterm elections as well. That year, 2.5 million Minnesotans cast a ballot, a turnout of 61%.

In the 2020 presidential election, 3.2 million Minnesotans voted, for a turnout of just under 80%.

Harris' lead smaller than Biden's margin of victory as of early Wednesday

As of 2 a.m. Wednesday, Harris led Donald Trump by 4 percentage points, with roughly 94% of the results in. The Associated Press called the state for Harris a little before 2 a.m.

Four years ago, Joe Biden topped Trump by more than 7%. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Minnesota by just 1.5% over Trump.

With Harris securing the state's electoral votes, it is 13th consecutive presidential election that Minnesota has backed the Democratic presidential candidate.

That comes after Republicans made a play for Minnesota early this summer as support for Biden appeared to wane in the state.

Donald Trump and JD Vance held a rally in St. Cloud in late July. And in early August, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said he was optimistic the state would turn red during a visit to Chaska. The party, however, did not invest much time in the state after that.

Minnesota has not gone for a Republican candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972.

Big night for congressional incumbents

Seven congressional incumbents in Minnesota easily won back their House seats.

As of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Republican Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber won re-election, along with Democrats Reps. Betty McCollum, Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar.

The race in Minnesota's Fourth District between McCollum and Republican May Lor Xiong, was the last to be called.

Amy Klobuchar outperforming Kamala Harris

For the second time in her career running for U.S. Senate, Amy Klobuchar is outperforming the Democratic presidential candidate.

As of 2:30 a.m., Klobuchar earned nearly 124,000 more votes than Harris, despite Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz running as her vice president nominee.

Klobuchar won Tuesday with about 57% of the vote over Republican Royce White, who earned 40% as of 2:30 a.m.

It's a smaller margin of victory for Klobuchar, who had more than 60 percent of the vote her last two elections. While she continues to demonstrate an ability to penetrate parts of greater Minnesota, White flipped 19 rural counties that Klobuchar carried six years ago.

In 2012, Klobuchar also outperformed Barack Obama by more than 308,000 votes. That year, she won all but two counties in the state. Obama won just 28 of 87 counties. In 2018, she won 51 counties.

That compares to Tina Smith, who in a 2018 special election for Senate won 20 counties on her way to victory. In 2020, Biden won 13 counties.

In 2006, a nonpresidential election year, Klobuchar won all but eight counties in her first campaign for U.S. Senate.