Statehouse Control May Rest In Greater MN Races
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- All 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives are on the ballot next week on Election Day.
State Republican chair Keith Downey said many races may end up decided by anywhere from 10 to 100 votes, "so it's a razor-thin" margin.
The Republican Party currently holds a seven-chair majority in the statehouse, and DFL chair Ken Martin says that razor-thin margin means all the difference with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton still in office.
"His ability to get (things) done for the people of Minnesota is really, unfortunately, going to depend on whether or not we win back the statehouse," Martin said. "Because it doesn't appear likely that the Republicans have any willingness to compromise and work with the governor or the Senate Democrats. So the stakes are really high."
Downey said Democrats losing control of the statehouse is not to blame for the state's issues.
"The $2 billion tax increase, the spending increases, the lack of accountability and reform, the imposition of MNsure," Downey said. "All of those things happened without any kind of counter to single-party rule."
There are about 30 races currently that hold the potential to tip the balance, political observers say, and it may end up that the races outside the Twin Cities metro area become the deciding factor.
"For the Democrats, we cannot win with just a suburban strategy alone," Martin said. "There aren't enough seats that are in play in the suburbs for us to win the majority back, meaning that we have to actually flip a few seats in greater Minnesota as well."
The Republican Party says that if they continue to stay on message, they have no concern that those seats will flip.
"The particulars of what Democrats did when they did have single-party rule ... all of those things favor our candidates in those statehouse races."