The unprecedented start of the legislative session went on with the usual pomp and formality of years prior. As if the Democratic half of the chamber weren’t empty, and the rules on how to proceed not the source of vehement dispute.
Secretary of State Steve Simon, as the statutorily mandated presiding officer, shook House GOP leader Lisa Demuth’s hand on his way to the rostrum at the front of the ornate chamber. He gaveled three times to start the session. A chaplain said a prayer calling for unity. The members said the Pledge of Allegiance. Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, called the roll, pausing on each Democrat’s name to allow for silence to note their absence. And the members present took the oath of office.
Then, Simon called the roll again and, as he informed Republican leaders in the days leading up to the session, declared that 67 members were not enough to fulfill a quorum. He said the House may not conduct any further business, declared the body adjourned with a bang of the gavel, and took a seat to the left of the rostrum.
Democrats’ boycott had worked, at least for the moment. They prevented Republicans from using their temporary, 1-seat advantage — sure to end after a Jan. 28 special election in a heavily DFL district — to elect a GOP speaker of the House.
The problem became evident moments later: Who would enforce Simon’s ruling?
Republican Rep. Harry Niska, ready on the microphone, quickly moved to overturn Simon’s ruling — interjecting as Simon closed the session. Niska called the oldest member present — Rep. Paul Anderson — to serve as presiding officer.
After learning how to turn on the microphone from the rostrum, Anderson took the role again and declared a quorum present.
House Republicans then nominated and voted unanimously for Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, to serve as House speaker, to applause.
Simon, sitting on the House floor, sat with his head down while Republicans continued to preside over the body.
Democrats boycotted the session over fears that Republicans would install Demuth as speaker while refusing to seat one of their members, Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee. His election was sharply contested by Republicans because election workers discarded 20 ballots before counting them. Tabke beat Republican challenger by Aaron Paul by just 14 votes, raising the prospect that those lost ballots could have swung the election in his favor.
Just hours earlier on Tuesday, a state district court judge ruled that Tabke won reelection and denied Republicans’ request for a special election. District Court Judge Tracy Perzel found that the missing ballots, if counted, would not have changed the election outcome.
But the judge’s ruling is advisory only: The House and Senate each ultimately have authority to seat their own members, so a GOP-led House could ignore the judge. It’s a fact Demuth cited in her response to the judge’s decision.
Demuth criticized the judge’s ruling in a statement, saying she downplayed the inconsistencies and “lack of absolute certainty that the correct set of voters were identified.”
The actions House Republicans took after Simon gaveled it adjourned are sure to be disputed in the coming days, and could end up before the state Supreme Court, dragging a separate branch of government into legislative affairs.
“What Republicans are doing on the House floor right now is an unlawful sham with no legal authority,” the House DFL Caucus said in a statement, while Republicans took control of the chamber. “Secretary of State Steve Simon adjourned session after finding there was not a 68-member quorum required to conduct House business. Everything that has happened after Secretary Simon adjourned today’s session is a sham.”
During her eight-minute speech accepting the speakership, Demuth said Minnesotans were counting on them to end the political theater.
“They expect safer communities. They expect strong schools. Minnesotans deserve and expect economic opportunities and a government that works efficiently and effectively. They expect us to listen and to collaborate and to deliver,” she said.
The contentious start to session comes after two years of unified government, with Democrats passing a sweeping progressive agenda over Republican objections. Now, Republicans and Democrats have just a handful of months to resolve their power struggle and pass a $60 billion or more state budget for the next two years.
The budget needs to be agreed to by the Legislature and signed by Walz by June 30. Otherwise, state government shuts down.
The power struggle between House Democrats and Republicans began when voters elected 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans to the House.
Republicans were subsequently gifted a one-seat advantage when a judge ruled that one elected Democrat — Curtis Johnson — was ineligible to hold office because he didn’t live in the district he intended to represent.
In the Senate, bipartisan comity and tears over a dead colleague
Meanwhile, partisan collegiality filled the Senate as the members filed into the chamber. DFL leader Erin Murphy embraced Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, for several seconds before taking her seat. Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart, DFL-Minnetonka, smiled and shook hands as she made her return to the Senate three years after leaving office due to redistricting.
The room quickly turned solemn when Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan banged the gavel to begin the session, recognizing the empty chair in the back of the room that had once belonged to Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, who died last month of cancer.
With a power-sharing agreement already negotiated by party leadership, the Senate moved quickly through the ritual motions. The body unanimously elected Sen. Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, and Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, as co-presiding officers, and approved a resolution outlining how the tied Senate would proceed until a special election is held in Dziedzic’s former district.
Senators celebrated their bipartisan collaboration, at times seeming to draw direct contrasts with their House colleagues.
“I think we’re going to take this opportunity to turn what could be a struggle, into something where we really come together and build bridges in politics that people haven’t seen for quite some time,” GOP leader Sen. Mark Johnson said.
After approving the power sharing agreement, senators gave speeches and readings to celebrate Dziedzic’s life as her family watched from the gallery, drawing tears from senators and observers.
