Story highlights Minnesota's move toward swing state status is part of the remaking of the US political map

Minnesota joins California as one of the most important states in the 2018 elections

Washington (CNN) Minnesota is now ground zero for a 2018 midterm election that could change control of Congress.

Al Franken's resignation Thursday means the state will now have two Senate seats on the ballot: a special election to fill the last two years of Franken's term, as well as fellow Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar's re-election.

The state also features five House races that could swing control of the chamber -- with the seats of two Republicans (Reps. Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis) and three Democrats (Rick Nolan, Tim Walz and Collin Peterson) all top targets.

Walz isn't even running for re-election. Instead, he's running for governor, to replace the term-limited Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.

All this comes in a state that was surprisingly competitive in the 2016 presidential campaign: Hillary Clinton bested Donald Trump by just 1.5 percentage points.

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