March 12, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Voters in a Minnesota House district at the center of post-election drama over chamber control decisively chose Democrat David Gottfried on Tuesday (March 11, 2025), tying the House and ending a short-lived Republican majority. The Democratic victory will force the two parties to work together on a budget for the next two years.
Gottfried got about 70% of the vote to defeat Republican Paul Wikstrom, who also ran for the seat in November.
The special election in the heavily Democratic district in the northern St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a state court ruled that Democratic winner Curtis Johnson failed to meet residency requirements. That disrupted an expected 67-67 tie in the House and led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement when Republicans tried to capitalize on their unexpected majority, prompting a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber.
The parties reached a new power-sharing agreement in February that assumed Democrats would win the special election and restore the tie. Under the terms of the deal, Republican Lisa Demuth will remain House speaker for the next two years. Once Gottfried is sworn in, the two parties will have even strength on most committees, with cochairs who will take turns holding the gavel, except for an oversight committee that Republicans will control to investigate fraud in government programs.
Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate. Given the tie in the House, some degree of bipartisan cooperation will be required to get the 68 votes needed to pass the big budget measures to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. Updated budget projections released last Thursday suggested difficult negotiations ahead. The projected surplus for the next two-year budget slipped to $456 million, while the projected deficit for the two years after that grew to $6 billion.
Gottfried’s 40-point margin of victory exceeded Johnson’s 30-point win in November. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried the district with 68% of the vote over President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
Gottfried said his win is a victory for the voters in his district, who haven’t been represented in the House since the session convened in January.
“The President is sowing chaos that is increasing the price of basic needs like food, energy, and healthcare,” Gottfried said in a statement. “It’s never been more urgent that we work together in Saint Paul to shield Minnesotans from the chaos, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and make a smart plan to protect our shared futures in Minnesota.”
House Democratic Caucus leader Melissa Hortman said Gottfried’s win confirms that they’ll be working under the power-sharing agreement they negotiated with House Republicans.
“Democrats have been ready to work in a bipartisan way for months,” Hortman said in a statement. “It’s time for our Republican colleagues to leave the partisan games behind and work with us to craft a budget for the people of Minnesota.”
Demuth said it was always going to be an uphill battle for a Republican to win in the district.
“While the House will return to a 67-67 tie after tonight, House Republican priorities remain unchanged: we will continue our effort to stop the fraud, protect Minnesotans from harmful tax increases, and work with our Democrat colleagues to pass a responsible and balanced budget,” Demuth said in a statement.
Ken Martin, a Minnesotan who chairs both the Democratic National Committee and the state party organization, congratulated Gottfried for what he called a “crucial” victory for the party.
Gottfried’s win comes on the heels of special election victories earlier this year in Virginia and Iowa, and it shows that Americans are already rejecting President Donald Trump, the DNC said in a statement.
“Since November’s election, Democrats continue to fight and win in communities across the country,” Martin said.
March 11, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A special election in a Minnesota House district at the center of a post-election drama to control the chamber will decide whether control will be tied between Democrats and Republicans, or if the GOP locks in a narrow but workable majority.
The election in heavily Democratic House District 40B in the northern St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a state court ruled that Democratic state Rep.-elect Curtis Johnson failed to meet residency requirements. That disrupted an expected 67-67 tie in the House and led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement between the two parties after Republicans decided to capitalize on their unexpected majority, prompting a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber.
The election pits Democrat David Gottfried against Republican Paul Wikstrom, who also ran for the seat in 2024 and had challenged Johnson’s residency status in court.
The parties reached a new power-sharing agreement in February that assumed Democrats would win the special election and restore the 67-67 tie. Under the terms of the deal, Republican Lisa Demuth will remain House speaker for the next two years. If Gottfried wins, the two parties will have even strength on most committees, except for an oversight committee that Republicans will control to investigate fraud in government programs.
Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Minnesota Senate. Given the tie in the House, where 68 votes are needed to pass most bills, some degree of bipartisan cooperation will be required to pass the big budget measures during the 2025 session and get them to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. Updated budget projections released last Thursday (March 6, 2025) suggested difficult negotiations ahead. The projected surplus for the next two-year budget slipped to $456 million, while the projected deficit for the two years after that grew to $6 billion.
As indicators of Democratic strength in the district, the ineligible Johnson received 65% of the vote in November, compared to about 35% for Wikstrom. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried the district with 68% of the vote, far better than the 51% she received statewide in her national loss to President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.
While Democrats had the “trifecta” of control over both chambers and the governor’s office in 2023 and 2024, GOP gains in the November elections returned the state to divided government, which has been the norm for most of the past three decades.
February 6, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democratic and Republican leaders of the Minnesota House have reached a power-sharing agreement to end a three-week stalemate. Top leaders from both parties announced the deal Wednesday night (Feb. 5, 2025). Both sides say details will be announced Thursday. Democrats had stayed away from the Capitol since Jan. 14. With 67 elected GOP members in the chamber, Republicans argued that was sufficient for a quorum. The Minnesota Supreme Court sided with Democrats last month and ruled that 68 must be present. The court left it to lawmakers to figure out how to work together. A special election to fill an empty seat March 11 is expected to restore a 67-67 tie.
JANUARY 22, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday (Jan. 23, 2025) on whether it should wade into a partisan power struggle that has roiled the state House for more than a week. Democratic lawmakers are boycotting the state Capitol to try to prevent their Republican colleagues from exploiting their temporary one-seat majority. Although the standoff is unusual for Minnesota, lawmakers have resorted to the tactic elsewhere. They’ve even gone into hiding to prevent state troopers or sergeants-at-arms from dragging members back to ensure a quorum. Republicans have a 67-66 majority pending a special election to fill an empty seat in a heavily Democratic district.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday (Jan. 23, 2025) on whether it should wade into a partisan power struggle that has roiled the state House for over a week, with Democratic lawmakers boycotting the state Capitol to try to prevent their Republican colleagues from exploiting their temporary one-seat majority.
Although the standoff is unusual for Minnesota, lawmakers have resorted to the tactic many times elsewhere. They’ve even gone into hiding to prevent state troopers or sergeants-at-arms from dragging members back to their statehouse to ensure enough members are present to conduct business.
A complex chess game has been playing out since the November election resulted in a 67-67 tie in the House. The chamber’s top Democratic and Republican leaders worked out most of a power-sharing agreement, but the deal fell apart after a Ramsey County judge ruled that the Democratic winner of a Roseville-area seat didn’t really live in his district. That meant the session would start with a 67-66 GOP majority pending a special election to fill that seat, which is expected to restore the tie because it’s a heavily Democratic district.
Gov. Tim Walz initially called the special election for Jan. 28, which would have limited the standoff to about two weeks. But the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Democratic governor set the date too early because the seat, vacated by a retiring lawmaker, didn’t officially become open until the Legislature convened last Tuesday. Walz said Friday that he’d probably reschedule it for early March, at least seven weeks away, the earliest he could under the law.
David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University who specializes in election and constitutional law, said the dispute might make for interesting political theater but it’s no way to govern.
“From a spectator’s point of view, it’s great. From a political science professor or law professor’s point of view, it’s a question I should ask on an exam. But from the public interest point of view, it’s absolutely horrible,” Schultz said.
The state’s highest court will tackle the broader dispute Thursday when it hears oral arguments on petitions by Democrats to declare that a quorum under the state constitution and other rules is 68 members present — a majority of the seats — and that everything the GOP has done since convening last week is legally invalid. House Republicans argue that the required quorum for the House to organize itself, elect a speaker and appoint committees is just 67 — a majority of current members.
House Republican leaders said in a filing Tuesday that the Supreme Court should respect the constitutional separation of powers and leave it to lawmakers to find a solution.
“The parties to this dispute, and Minnesota’s voters, have all the tools they need to resolve it themselves. Judicial interference is unnecessary and unwarranted,” their attorneys wrote.
Schultz said he doesn’t think either side is on particularly strong legal ground. Democrats and Republicans alike have taken actions that have contributed to the impasse, so neither is blameless, he said.
The professor predicted that the high court “more likely than not” will rule that the House lacks a quorum. He said the justices also could — and he thinks should — decide both sides’ hands are dirty and decline to step in.
Schultz said it’s an “open question” whether House Republicans have the power to round up absent Democrats and force a quorum of 68. And Schultz said he’s not sure that Republicans would really want to do that anyway.
The fear of being hauled in has subsided a bit among Democrats, who argue that their chamber is not legally organized yet and that Republicans therefore don’t have the legal authority to order the sergeant-at-arms to round them up.
But House Democrats reaffirmed Tuesday that they’re ready to stay away until Republicans agree to go back to the previous power-sharing deal and, crucially, promise not to try to unseat Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, who won a seat by just 14 votes in a swing district where the GOP would stand a good chance of winning a low-turnout special election. Republicans have refused to give that assurance, even though a Scott County judge declared Tabke the legal winner last week.
The top House Democrat, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, conceded Friday that Minnesota’s rules are “rather genteel” and probably don’t allow the sergeant-at-arms or state troopers to dragoon lawmakers back to the Capitol after all.
Hortman, who was speaker for the previous six years when Democrats controlled the House, said she’s even asked the sergeant-at-arms in the past what they can actually do to round up absent members.
“Like, are you going to go bear hug somebody and bring them on in?” she recalled. “And they’re like, ‘Well, we’ll try their cellphone.’”
JANUARY 17, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz urged lawmakers Thursday (Jan. 16, 2025) to end a power struggle that has disrupted the first week of Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session, but expressed support for House Democrats’ boycott of the chamber to block Republicans from wielding power.
House Republicans hold a temporary 67-66 majority until a special election to fill a vacant seat on Jan. 28. Democrats, who have refused to attend the session since it opened Tuesday, contend a quorum under the state constitution requires 68 members to be present and that the House cannot conduct any business without a quorum.
“Just work together on a power-sharing agreement,” Walz urged lawmakers as he unveiled his two-year budget proposal. “That’s the way it’s going to end up. And I think that can work out really well.”
House Republicans say they need only 67 members to be present because of the empty seat. In the Democrats’ absence, they have elected their top leader as speaker and appointed committee chairs and other officers. The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next Thursday on whether the GOP’s moves are legal.
Walz said he’s confident the special election in a heavily Democratic district will result in a 67-67 tie in the House, and he urged House Republicans to end the fight now.
“I would encourage them, don’t go down this road,” he told reporters. “You’re not going to win in court. You’re not going to win in a court of public opinion. We got a split Legislature. That is acknowledged. Just go with that. You’re not going to overturn an election.”
The main task of the legislative session is to pass a balanced two-year budget to take effect July 1, and that will require bipartisan cooperation. Both sides agree the House can’t pass bills without 68 votes under their rules, so they will eventually have to find ways to worth together.
The governor’s proposed $65.9 billion budget includes a modest cut sales tax cut, from 6.875% to 6.8%, which would mean a 7.5-cent savings on a $100 purchase. The lost revenue would be offset by extending the sales tax to some services that aren’t currently taxed, and the closure of various loopholes. His plan would slow the growth of some programs affecting seniors and special education students. It contains measures to combat fraud in government programs, but few new initiatives.
“You’ve got an opportunity here to shrink state spending, to cut taxes, to bring fairness to the system,” Walz said. “I’m not adding any additional programs or anything, (I’m) bringing efficiencies to it. This is pretty uncontroversial.”
House GOP leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, slammed the governor’s proposal, saying Republicans won’t support any tax increases or cuts affecting seniors in nursing homes, and signaled the GOP would keep fighting.
“I unfortunately have not heard directly from him at all,” Demuth told reporters after a brief Republicans-only floor session Thursday. “If he wanted to encourage the other House members to actually come to work … it would be much appreciated.”
Demuth and the top House Democrat, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, had mostly worked out a power-sharing agreement last month, but it fell apart after a judge ruled that one Democratic member didn’t live in the district he won. That decision gave Republicans their one-seat majority.
Hortman on Thursday renewed an offer to Demuth to recognize a Republican majority through Feb. 3, when the original power-sharing agreement would kick back in. The offer requires Republicans to agree not to try to unseat another Democrat who won election by 14 votes.
“The path you have chosen and the situation currently unfolding in the Minnesota House is deeply concerning,” Hortman wrote to Demuth, adding, “we owe a duty to the state to continue to work together to achieve a resolution of our differences.”
JANUARY 15, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and House Democrats have asked the state’s highest court to intervene in a partisan power struggle that has roiled the start of the 2025 legislative session.
Simon, a Democrat, petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court late Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2025) to declare that he legally remains the presiding officer in the Minnesota House, for now, and that Tuesday’s election of GOP leader Lisa Demuth as speaker was invalid. He asked the court to back his position that 68 members are needed for the quorum that must show up for the chamber to take any official actions.
“Because the members of the House lacked this constitutionally required quorum on January 14, Representative Demuth has not properly been elected speaker and the House cannot transact business,” Simon’s lawyers wrote. “Until a quorum is present and a speaker is properly elected, the Secretary remains the House’s presiding officer and his role may not be usurped.”
House Democrats boycotted the opening day of the session in an effort to deny Republicans a quorum and block them from exploiting a temporary one-vote majority to unseat one Democrat and to advance the GOP agenda.
Democrats also petitioned the Supreme Court late Tuesday, asking the high court to prohibit Republican lawmakers from conducting any business until at least 68 members are present, and declare than any actions taken in the meantime are “without lawful authority and are therefore null and void.”
Demuth called the lawsuits an attack on the constitutional separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.
“Secretary Simon has no authority as a member of the executive branch over proceedings in the House, and his role is strictly ceremonial in nature,” Demuth said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the Supreme Court might rule. The justices hadn’t scheduled oral arguments and Republicans had not filed responses by late morning Wednesday.
House Republicans planned to convene a floor session at noon Wednesday, even as Democrats planned to continue the boycott for a second day. Republicans contend that only 67 members are needed for a quorum because one seat is empty.
The November election resulted in a House tied at 67-67, and top leaders from both parties started to work out a power-sharing agreement on the assumption that they would be evenly split this year. But a judge late last month declared that a newly elected Democrat didn’t really live in his district. That gave Republicans a temporary 67-66 majority until a special election can take place Jan. 28. Since the district is heavily Democratic, the election is expected to restore the tie.
Democrats are especially worried because Republicans have threatened to use their two-week majority to refuse to seat Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee. He won by only 14 votes in a different race, where local officials said 20 ballots were accidentally destroyed without being counted. A court declared Tabke the legal winner and rejected a GOP effort to force a special election in his swing district.
Efforts to revive a power-sharing deal failed. The top House Democrat, Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said at a news conference Tuesday that Demuth would not commit in final negotiations to letting Tabke keep his seat, even though she offered a deal that would have allowed Demuth to serve as speaker all session.
State law says the secretary of state shall call the House to order at the start of a legislative session and preside until a speaker is elected. But the Democratic side of the chamber was empty when Simon convened the body.
After a clerk took attendance and only the 67 GOP members answered “present,” Simon declared that they lacked a quorum of 68 and adjourned. But Republicans stayed in their seats and elected Demuth as speaker — a move that Democrats denounced as an “unlawful sham with no legal authority.”
This is the first time the Minnesota Legislature has faced such a boycott, but similar stalling tactics have been used in other states.
In contrast to the House, the Minnesota Senate convened calmly Tuesday. The Senate is tied 33-33 pending a Jan. 28 special election to fill the seat of a deceased senator. That’s expected to restore the Democrats’ 34-33 majority. But Senate leaders quietly reached a power-sharing deal that includes co-presiding officers from both parties.
JANUARY 14, 2025, UPDATE:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — House Democrats have boycotted the opening day of Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session in an effort to stop Republicans from exploiting a temporary majority to advance their agenda. But GOP representatives forged ahead and named their leader as speaker, a move Democrats immediately rejected. The Democratic side of the House chamber was empty as lawmakers convened Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2025). Secretary of State Steve Simon declared they did not have 68 members he had said would be needed for a quorum and adjourned the House. But Republicans stayed in their seats without him and elected Lisa Demuth as speaker. Democrats rejected that as an “unlawful sham with no legal authority.”
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — House Democrats boycotted the opening day of Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2025) in an effort to stop Republicans from exploiting a temporary majority to advance their agenda, but GOP representatives forged ahead and named their leader as speaker in a move that Democrats rejected.
There was applause as Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon entered the chamber to convene the proceedings in accordance with state law. But the Democratic side of the House chamber was empty and only Republicans replied “present” as a clerk took the roll.
Simon announced they had not reached the 68 members needed for a quorum, declared the chamber adjourned and left.
But Republicans stayed in their seats, saying that with 67 members present they had a quorum. They then voted to elect former Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, as speaker, a move that Democrats immediately denounced as an “unlawful sham with no legal authority.”
“Make no mistake: the House was adjourned by Secretary of State Simon with no quorum. The actions of the House GOP were illegal and Lisa Demuth is not speaker,” tweeted Democratic former Majority Leader Jamie Long of Minneapolis.
Demuth vowed to “work tirelessly” to foster a “culture of respect and civility” in the House but didn’t directly mention the boycott in her acceptance speech.
“We owe it to the people that we represent to debate passionately, but we also owe them the respect of agreeing that sometimes we do disagree,” she said. “So let’s focus on what unites us.”
Republicans adjourned the session until Wednesday.
What happens next was not immediately clear. Republican Rep. Harry Niska, of Ramsey, told reporters that the GOP was prepared for a legal challenge.
The House came out of the November election tied 67-67, and top leaders from both parties started to work out a power-sharing agreement that presumed a tie. But a judge late last month declared that a newly elected Democrat didn’t live in his heavily Democratic district.
That gave the GOP a 67-66 majority until a special election can take place in two weeks. Republicans declared their intent to take full advantage until the tie is restored.
The GOP lost a round in the power struggle earlier Tuesday when a different judge rejected a Republican effort to force a special election in another race that Democratic incumbent Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee, won by only 14 votes. Republicans had threatened to use their power to refuse to seat him, even if they lost the court case.
Former Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, indicated in a statement that seating Tabke was the key disagreement that she and Demuth could not resolve in talks Monday and Tuesday.
House Democrats held a secret swearing-in ceremony on Sunday night to try to ensure that Tabke and other members could take their seats, a move Republicans denounced.
“Democrats have no other recourse to protect the will of the voters than to deny quorum,” Hortman said in her statement. “Democrats are united in our will to fight Republican efforts to kick Representative Brad Tabke out of the Minnesota House. We cannot allow Republicans to engage in this unprecedented abuse of power, and we will use every tool at our disposal to block it.”
Hortman had proposed a power-sharing agreement for the start of the session that would let Demuth become speaker but then revert to their original deal, assuming that the special election restores the tie.
Under Minnesota law, the secretary of state calls the House to order at the start of a session, declares whether a quorum is present, and hands over the gavel when a speaker is elected. It’s normally a quick formality.
Simon told legislative leaders Friday that the state constitution, statutes and House rules say 68 members must show up for a quorum. He said he had no authority to take further action unless 68 lawmakers are present, so if the 66 Democrats failed to show up, all that lawmakers could do was take attendance and adjourn. He said he would continue to convene and adjourn the House daily until a quorum is present and a speaker is elected.
Republicans disputed his legal analysis, arguing that the vacant seat meant a quorum is just 67, and pressed ahead without him Tuesday.
This is the first time the Minnesota Legislature has faced such a boycott, but similar stalling tactics have been used elsewhere.
Democrats in neighboring Wisconsin went into hiding in 2011 in a standoff with majority Republicans over union rights for public employees. Oregon Republicans staged multiple walkouts in recent years, including a record six-week walkout in 2023 over bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun rights. The top Democrat in the Michigan House last month ordered absent members back and barred the doors after a Democrat joined Republicans in skipping out.
The high-stakes poker in the Minnesota House contrasts with calm in the state Senate, which is tied 33-33. Democrats are expected to regain a 34-33 majority after a special election, also set for Jan. 28, to fill the seat of a senator who died last month. Unlike the House, Senate leaders quietly reached a power-sharing deal Sunday.
JANUARY 14, 2025:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The 2025 session of the Minnesota Legislature could be headed for a rocky start when it convenes Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2025). House Democrats are threatening to boycott opening day, while House Republicans say they’ll try to recall lawmakers who fail to show up. The House came out of the election tied 67-67. Leaders worked out a power-sharing agreement that collapsed after a judge declared that a newly elected Democrat didn’t really live in his district. So the GOP now has a 67-66 majority until a special election in two weeks. The messy power struggle is unusual for a state that historically has prided itself on clean politics.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The 2025 session of the Minnesota Legislature could be headed for a rocky start when it convenes Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2025), with House Democrats threatening to boycott opening day and House Republicans saying they’ll try to recall lawmakers who fail to show up.
The messy power struggle is unusual for a state that historically has prided itself on clean politics, but where Republicans chafed at being frozen out in 2023 and 2024, when Democrats controlled both chambers and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz completed the trifecta of power.
The House came out of the November election tied 67-67, though, and top leaders from both parties worked out most of a power-sharing agreement that presumed a tie. But a judge late last month declared that a newly elected Democrat didn’t really live in his district. So the GOP has a 67-66 majority until a special election in two weeks. It’s in a heavily Democratic district, so the election likely will restore the tie.
House Republicans have declared that they’ll have an “organizational majority” on opening day and that they intend to use it to elect their leader, Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring, as speaker for two years, name the committee chairs, and pursue an agenda that includes preventing fraud in government programs. They’ve also threatened to use their power to prevent the seating of another Democrat who won reelection by only 14 votes, Brad Tabke of Shakopee. A court ruling on that race, where 20 ballots went missing, remained pending Monday.
House Democrats, led by former speaker Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park, reject what they’re calling a GOP power grab. They’re threatening not to show when the House convenes at noon on Tuesday, saying there won’t be a quorum without them. They even held a secret swearing-in ceremony for their members Sunday night to make it harder for Republicans to deny anyone their seat.
“It’s outrageous that they’re trying to use this two-week, one-vote edge that they have to potentially kick out newly elected members and to try to seize control for two years, which would completely ignore the will of the voters,” Hortman said at a news conference Monday.
Hortman said she planned to meet with Demuth on Monday evening to offer a compromise that would allow Republicans to elect Demuth as speaker and control the House until after the special election, when they would return to their previous power-sharing agreement. She said one condition would be that Republicans drop their threat to refuse to seat Tabke.
In an interview later Monday, Demuth didn’t reject a deal along those lines — but didn’t say she’d accept it, either.
“I would absolutely be open to having a conversation with Representative Hortman,” Demuth said. “That’s what we have done all along.”
This would be the first time the Minnesota Legislature has faced a boycott to prevent a quorum, but similar stalling tactics have been used elsewhere.
For example, Democrats in neighboring Wisconsin went into hiding in 2011 in a standoff with majority Republicans over union rights for public employees. Oregon Republicans staged multiple walkouts in recent years, including a record six-week walkout in 2023 over bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun rights. The top Democrat in the Michigan House last month ordered absent members back and barred the doors after a Democrat joined Republicans in skipping out.
The high-stakes poker in the Minnesota House contrasts with calm in the state Senate, where Democrats are expected to regain a 34-33 majority after a special election Jan. 28 to fill a vacancy caused by a senator’s death late last month. Unlike the House, the top Senate Democratic and GOP leaders quietly worked out a power-sharing deal Sunday.
Under Minnesota law, the secretary of state calls the House to order at the start of a session, declares whether a quorum is present, and hands over the gavel when a speaker is elected. It’s normally a quick formality.
Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon told legislative leaders Friday that his reading of the state constitution, statutes and House rules is that 68 members must show up for a quorum. Republicans argue that the vacant seat means a quorum is just 67. But Simon said he has no authority to take further action unless 68 lawmakers are present, so all they could do would be to take attendance and adjourn. He said he’ll continue to convene and adjourn the House daily until a quorum is finally present and a speaker is elected so that normal business can begin.
Republican leaders threatened Monday to seek recalls for “nonfeasance” of any Democratic representatives who aren’t present for the roll call on Tuesday, a cumbersome process that requires state Supreme Court approval.
“We are committed to holding every legislator accountable,” state GOP Chairman Alex Plechash told reporters. “If you don’t show up for the job, you shouldn’t keep it.”
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