Hortman calls on Demuth to honor power-sharing agreement

Hortman calls on Demuth to honor power-sharing agreement 

“Democrats are prepared to use all parliamentary tactics available to us in the absence of a power-sharing agreement on the first day of session.”

Saint Paul, Minn. – Minnesotans voted for a tied House, but in recent weeks Republican Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth has signaled her caucus’s intention to use a two-week, one-seat advantage to rewrite House Rules to permanently disadvantage Democrats, and to unseat a duly elected member of the Democratic caucus when the new legislative session starts on January 14. During a December 23 interview with KARE11, Demuth said that Republicans “are fully going to be operating as if we are in the majority in the House of Representatives.”

In the Minnesota House of Representatives, a majority is 68 seats. Due to a pending special election in a safe DFL district, House Republicans have a temporary 67-66 plurality until January 28. A majority of 68 members is required to conduct business in the Minnesota House of Representatives, which means the 67-member Republican caucus has no ability to conduct business without collaboration with House Democrats.

“Minnesotans voted for equal numbers of Democratic and Republican state representatives. Honoring the will of the voters means governing together under shared power,” said DFL Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman. “Minnesotans want Republicans to honor the will of the voters. We would like to get to work on a bipartisan basis to tackle the challenges Minnesotans elected us to address. We have no interest in spending January locked in partisan warfare with House Republicans, but we do not intend to allow them to pretend that 67 votes is a majority and engage in an illegitimate power grab. Democrats are prepared to use all parliamentary tactics available to us in the absence of a power-sharing agreement on the first day of session."

The Minnesota Constitution, Article 4, Section 13, states “A majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business” and Minnesota state law 2.021 provides that the Minnesota House is composed of 134 members. A majority of 134 members is 68 members.