Hello from the State Capitol,
We are only days away from the start of the 2025 session. By the sounds of it, Democrats in the Minnesota House have no intention of showing up Opening Day, or many days after that.
Following the November election, 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats were elected to the Minnesota House. However, Democrats got caught cheating. One of the Democrat Metro Area candidates ran for office even though he didn’t live in the district he was elected to represent – which is required by law. A court was asked to intervene, and a judge ordered that the candidate not be seated when session begins. The candidate has since stepped aside, creating what will be a 67 seat Republican, 66 seat Democrat House when lawmakers are sworn into office on January 14.
During a news conference on Monday, House Democrat leadership said that unless there is an equal power agreement between House Republicans and Democrats on Day 1, they will stay away from the Capitol and refuse to be sworn into office. In fact, they suggested they might not show up at all until after a special election is held to fill the now open seat. But they have said they will collect their paychecks even though they’re not doing the people’s business.
I cannot imagine being elected and then threatening to not show up for work. The Democrats’ threat of an outright boycott is proof positive that they believe Republicans have a functioning organizational majority. If they didn't believe so, they wouldn't be playing these games.
I couldn’t be more pleased to be representing you again in St. Paul and am looking forward to the Opening Day ceremonies on the Minnesota House floor this coming Tuesday. Let’s hope we see the House Democrats there as well.
Have a good weekend,
Steve