Hello from the State Capitol,
The start of the 2025 session is almost here! But if a recent Democrat threat is to be believed, Republicans will be the only ones showing up for work in the Minnesota House.
For only the second time in our state’s history, the Minnesota House sat at a 67-67 tie between Republicans and Democrats following the November election. But now, House Republicans have a one seat advantage.
You may have heard the news about a Metro Area Democrat who ran to be a state representative in a district in which he did not live – and won. That is illegal according to Minnesota’s laws. A court was asked to step in, and a judge ordered that the candidate not be seated when the session begins. He has since stepped aside, creating what will be a 67 seat Republican, 66 seat Democrat House when lawmakers are sworn into office on Tuesday.
House Democrats are not responding well to their newfound minority status. During a news conference this week, House Democrat leadership said that unless there is an equal power agreement between House Republicans and Democrats on Day 1, they’re going to stay home. They even suggested they might not show up at all until after a special election is held to fill the now open seat.
Despite this, House Democrats said they’d still be taking their legislative paychecks despite their refusal to show up in St. Paul.
Who runs for office and then refuses to do the job because they’re not getting their way?
The Democrats got caught trying to cheat, and they’re down one because of it. Instead of being mad at Republicans for now having a House majority, maybe Democrats should ask themselves why they couldn’t find one person out of the 40,000+ who actually live in that district to run for office?
On Tuesday, every Republican state representative will be sworn into office. Let’s hope House Democrats follow suit.