Minnesota Democrats Will Boycott House Session Unless GOP Agrees to

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There’s a political mess in Minnesota, and the Democrats are trying their best to make it worse.

For the first time since 1979, there was an even split in seats between Republicans and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (Democrats) in the House. There was a 67-67 tie that was eventually broken when a Democrat, State Rep. Curtis Johnson, who initially won the District 40B race, was discovered to be living outside his district boundaries and was disqualified. Gov. Tim Walz scheduled an election in late January to replace him.

That seat is still expected to go to the Democrat. However, another seat held by Rep. Brad Tabke is in limbo as the courts decide how to proceed after it’s believed there are 20 missing ballots in a race won by just 14.

Meanwhile, Republicans are pointing out that House business can’t wait until the end of January. The GOP wants to hold an election for speaker now and vote on committee assignments.

The GOP’s 67-66 majority won’t last long because the Democrat is expected to win the special election. And no bill can be passed unless it receives 68 votes.

“If there is no power-sharing agreement, we will not be here,” said State Rep. Melissa Hortman, the Democratic speaker-designate. “What the Republicans are engaged in is an illegitimate power grab, and we’re not going to stand by and just let them do it.”

In all fairness, she probably would have said the same thing if the roles were reversed and Democrats held a one-seat plurality, shy of an actual majority.

With Democrats threatening a boycott, Republicans are insisting on exercising their majority rights. “There is no reason why taxpayers should be on the hook for paying for people that are not going to be at their jobs,” said State Rep. Lisa Demuth, the Republican speaker-designate.

“There is no longer a tie in the State of Minnesota. Democrats will be coming in with 66 members. What that does is that gives us an organizational majority that we fully intend to exercise that right,” she said.

The vote for the Minnesota House was as tight as it could possibly be.

Minnesota Post:

Regardless of the ruling in the Tabke case, DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman will start the 2025 session next Tuesday in a 67-66 deficit and stay there until the special election in District 40B. And even if Tabke prevails in court, there are some in the House GOP who want to use a constitutional provision to deny him his seat. While it takes 68 votes to pass bills, it would only take a majority of those present to refuse to let Tabke be seated.

Republican Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring said such a move was possible to preserve the integrity of the election. Only a new election in that district will satisfy Republicans.

The villain in this drama is Gov. Tim Walz, late of the campaign for vice president, who decided not to wait for the legislature to set the date for the special election and went ahead and did it himself.

Rep. Johnson resigned from a seat he did not legally win, giving Walz the power to name the date of the special election and not the House. When the courts sort everything out, the Lord knows how it will all come out. If, as expected, a DFL candidate wins, there will be further legal maneuvering before the issue is finally settled.