Here's what it looked like the last time Minnesota House was divided in 1979
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota House appears headed for a rare evenly split chamber with Republicans and Democrats both having 67 seats, according to unofficial results from the secretary of state's office.
But that wouldn't be unprecedented. In 1979, there was a similar political make-up in the House. Party leaders in the chamber will begin discussions about what a power-sharing agreement under these unique circumstances would look like.
Close races headed for automatic recount, leaders brace for sharing power
The tied chamber would end the Democrats' trifecta control of both the House and Senate and governor's office that's defined the last two years in St. Paul. All 134 House seats were on the ballot this year, and Republicans needed a net gain of four seats to get to a majority.
Ultimately they were able to pick up seats in north Mankato, Eveleth and Winona, flipping the districts by hundreds of votes. But Democrats are narrowly holding on to two seats — 14B in northeast St. Cloud and 54A in Shakopee — by 28 and 13 votes respectively, according to the secretary of state's office.
Both of those races are so tight—the margins are less than one-half of one percent—that they will head to a publicly-funded recount required by state law.
"It looks like when we flipped that coin the quarter landed on its side and we appear to be tied," House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said during a news conference Wednesday.
Both she and House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, vowed bipartisanship. If the outcome remains true, they will have to work out a power-sharing agreement dictating how the chamber will operate. When there's a majority, that party gets the speaker's gavel and members lead committees, which is where legislation is refined and the public can weigh in on the proposals.
Democrats will still have their narrow one-seat majority in the state Senate, after the DFL candidate triumphed on Tuesday in a special election for a vacant seat in that chamber.
"This is our opportunity to work together with Democrats across the aisle and find ways to best serve Minnesotans," Demuth said Wednesday. "Minnesotans were very clear that what they experienced over the last two years — they wanted something different."
Lawmakers next session must craft the next two-year, multi-billion dollar state budget with funding for education, health and human services, transportation and much more. Any tax cuts or credits will be included in that plan, too.
While Democrats over the last two years have been able to pass their spending proposals and policies with few roadblocks, they will be forced to once again work with Republicans for bills to clear the finish line.
Divided government — a different party controlling each chamber or having a governor of an opposing party — has been a frequent feature in the Minnesota Legislature in the last several years.
But having one chamber split evenly happened only one other time since 1900, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
How did the 1979 power agreement look in the Minnesota House?
Leaders ultimately agreed to have an Independent-Republican, as they were known from 1975 to 1995, to be speaker, while DFL lawmakers chaired the powerful appropriations, rules and taxes committees, according to a document detailing that power structure from that time.
Hortman on Wednesday said there are examples of divided chambers in other states that they can look to and characterized the 1979 power-sharing agreement as "a bit archaic" that might not fit for the present day.
"It's the only precedent we have so certainly everybody is looking at that but I think when we look at some of the other states, we see some configurations that might be more practical," she said.
Demuth told reporters she only spoke with Hortman briefly and did not share specifics of what she would like any deal to look like, though she shared similar sentiments that a 1979 playbook might not work in 2024.
"There's a lot that has changed in our world so I can't speak directly to what that power-sharing agreement would be but everything is on the table," she said.
She said her caucus this week would choose a leader to spearhead those negotiations.
Longtime WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler, who covered the legislature that year, recalled that the legislature did function well after they inked that deal until a tumultuous final few days at the capitol that ended in chaos, marked by bitter partisan battles stemming from a sitting Independent Republican lawmaker being found guilty of violating campaign finance law.
"The committees functioned as they should, more Democratic votes than Republican ones, and the Republican Speaker kind of controlled the flow of legislation. So it worked great for a while," he remembered.
That's not unlike the chaotic close to the 2024 session, when Democrats in a last-minute effort put their unfinished priorities into one large bill and passed it before the constitutional deadline to end. Republicans were outraged by the procedural move.
Kessler believes politics has become more divided in the decades since, which could impact how the chamber works under a similar agreement.
"Coming out of the last session, when Republicans feel slighted because of Democrats pushing all of their progressive agenda through without Republican votes, without Republican input, I think that does have an impact," he said. "Not to say this hasn't happened in other states with Republicans in charge or with Republican trifectas, but I think there will be some residual resentment from that. It's different."
