MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Governor. Tim Waltz faces a new era of divided government when he returns home from the presidential campaign, now that Republicans appear to have broken up the Democratic trio that helped him rise to power. Kamala Harris’ radar.
Although Democrats will maintain their one-seat majority in the Senate, leaders on both sides agree that Republicans won enough seats in the election to even control of the House at 67-67.
According to an Associated Press tally, the House was 65-65 as of Wednesday afternoon. It would end in a 67-67 tie if the leaders of the last four undeclared races remain in the lead. Two of them are so slim that automatic recounts have been triggered unless lawmakers waive them.
The last time the House was tied It was 1979, and the history of that legislative session suggests that power sharing will be controversial.
In the St. Cloud-area House District 14B, Democratic incumbent Dan Wolgamott led with just 28 votes over Republican Sue Ek, according to unofficial results as of midday Wednesday, while in the District 54A, in the Shakopee area, incumbent Democrat Brad Tabke led Republican Aaron. Paul by only 13 votes. Two other races had margins of 225 votes and 160 votes with 99% of the votes counted.
Recounts in legislative races rarely change results, according to the nonpartisan Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Fluctuations in vote totals, if any, generally remain in the single digits. The notable exception in recent decades was Minnesota’s 2008 U.S. Senate race, when Democrat Al Franken came from behind to unseat Republican Norm Coleman by 312 votes after an eight-month recount and court battle.
While Democratic legislative leaders warned ahead of the 2024 election that shared control would be a recipe for gridlock, both sides tried to sound optimistic during news conferences Wednesday afternoon. They said they have barely begun to discuss what their power-sharing deal might look like as they eye their main task of the 2025 session, passing a balanced budget. Among the questions is who will be president of the House.
The current minority leader, Republican Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring, said the tie would mean “balance” after two years of total Democratic control.
“This is an opportunity for us to work together with our Democratic colleagues across the aisle and find ways to better serve Minnesotans,” Demuth told reporters.
The current Speaker of the House, Democrat Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park, acknowledged that she would like to keep her position, but agreed that everything will have to be negotiated.
“We will have an opportunity to show Minnesotans good bipartisanship working together and getting things done,” Hortman told reporters. “Minnesotans certainly sent us a tied Minnesota House. What they are asking of us is to work together and be productive.
Hortman said she and Demuth already have “a great friendship and working relationship to build on.” She also noted that she worked well with Senate Republicans when that body was under GOP control. Power sharing works when lawmakers treat each other with respect and “basic decency” and keep their word, she said.
Minnesota has generally experienced some degree of governmental division in recent decades. The 2019 session — the first under Walz — wasn’t always pretty, but both sides agreed it was quite productive, even though Republicans held the Senate and Democrats controlled the House.
Democrats won their trifecta — control of the governor’s office and both legislative chambers — in the 2022 elections and used it to enact a long list of repressed priorities last year. These included stronger protections for abortion rights and trans rights, child tax credits, paid family and medical leave, free school meals for all children, and safety measures regarding firearms, to name a few.
Democrats also held full power under Gov. Mark Dayton in the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions and in all four sessions from 1987 to 1990 under Gov. Rudy Perpich. But Minnesota Republicans haven’t had a threesome since the late 1960s under Gov. Harold LeVander, when legislative elections were technically nonpartisan and lawmakers were either conservative or liberal.
In 1979, Republican and Democratic leaders reached a power-sharing agreement after weeks of difficult negotiations that gave Republicans the presidency, while Democrats gained the chairmanships of the three most powerful committees. The arrangement worked quite well for most of the session. Bills that progressed through the process generally had bipartisan support. But the deal collapsed in the final days and lawmakers needed a one-day special session to finalize the year’s must-pass bills.
Hortman said the approach leaders tried in 1979 seems “a little archaic” and that they will study how shared power has worked in other legislatures in hopes of finding a better model.
According to a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures, linked rooms are not that unusual on a national scale. Every election in even years between 1984 and 2010 resulted in at least one deadlocked chamber somewhere, and the results were often better than expected, according to the report.
