It's a bit of an understatement to say these are interesting times for the Minnesota Legislature. The state Senate is scheduled to have an election on January 28, 2025, for a vacant seat that will decide whether the Republicans or the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) will gain control of the chamber. Each side has 33 state Senators and they have adopted a power-sharing agreement until then.
As exciting as that race may be, it pales in comparison to the drama in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
After the election in 2024, the House was evenly split along party lines. Both the DFL and Republicans ended up with 67 representatives. However, there were questions about the residency of one of the DFL candidates and a special election was scheduled for January 28, 2025.
The two parties could have followed the Senate and shared power until then, but that didn't happen. What followed required the Minnesota Supreme Court to intervene.
There Can Be Only One (Maybe)
The Minnesota House of Representatives has 134 seats. Conducting business as usual requires a quorum of 68 members present. Having an equal split between the parties left them squabbling over electing a Speaker.
The Speaker of the House is usually a member of the party that controls the majority of the seats. The Minnesota Senate, faced with a tie until the special election decides the final seat, came to a power-sharing agreement. This has allowed them to function normally during the first few weeks of the session. It will likely be set aside when a Leader is chosen after the election.
Instead of reaching a similar solution, the Minnesota House opted to fight. Republicans filed unsuccessful challenges against DFL member Brad Tabke, who won his election by 14 votes. Twenty of the tabulated ballots went missing, but the courts ruled for Tabke after several affected voters confirmed their votes in his favor. Republicans threatened not to seat him anyway.
Attempts to reach a power-sharing solution before the first session began proved unfruitful. Republicans seemed poised to take advantage of their temporary one-vote advantage to push through their choice for Speaker. Whether or not they chose to seat Tabke wouldn't have mattered, as they would have had a quorum with 67 votes of the 133 members present.
The DFL responded by not showing up for the first session. This denied the quorum necessary for the election of a Speaker. With no quorum present, Secretary of State Steve Simon, a member of the DFL and the presiding officer of the House, followed the Minnesota Constitution and adjourned the meeting.
The Republicans defied the rules and elected Lisa Demuth as Speaker. The DFL filed lawsuits that ended up before the Minnesota Supreme Court. DFL House members continued their boycott of House proceedings, despite one Republican House member demanding Minnesota Governor Tim Walz use the Minnesota State Police to force DFL members to attend.
You Can't Do That
On January 24, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution required 68 members for a quorum. The moves the Republican House members made were thus invalidated. How the situation will resolve itself remains unknown.
The DFL is projected as likely to win the special election, which would give both parties 67 members again. If the Republicans follow through on their threat not to seat Tabke, the House may remain paralyzed by further no-shows and legal responses. Instead, perhaps all involved will take a cue from the other members of the legislative branch and hammer out a way to share power.
Related Resources
- Minnesota Supreme Court Cases Database (FindLaw's Minnesota Courts)
- Minnesota Law (FindLaw's State Laws)
- Minnesota Special Elections (FindLaw's Minnesota Elections Laws)
