Minnesota House to return to work for the first time in 2025

As Thursday approached, pressure was building at the Capitol.

Minnesota House Democrats were coming up on four weeks of a historic boycott of the legislative session that kept their members out of the building.

Republicans were on the losing side of a state Supreme Court ruling that invalidated weeks of action in the chamber and risked another unfavorable ruling in a new case up for arguments on Thursday.

Less than 24 hours before the hearing, the two parties instead struck a deal on a power-sharing agreement to break the stalemate and govern a deeply divided chamber for the next two years. Both sides said key concessions moved the needle.

“The best negotiations is when not everyone walks out completely happy,” said Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, who is expected to be elected as the first Black speaker of the House on Thursday afternoon under the parameters of the deal. “But the compromises that were made — having a Republican speaker with very little limitations over the next two years — is a huge win for Republicans.”

The two sides appeared separately in news conferences on Thursday to roll out the details of their agreement, a sign tensions remained even as they returned to the chamber to work.

“We’re going to have to work to get to the point where we’re collaborating together in a bipartisan way,” said DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman. “I think we will be able to work together well, but it will take some time. Certainly everybody’s still pretty angry at each other.”

Republicans will chair all House committees for the next month while they hold a 67-66 advantage. A March 11 special election for a safely blue Roseville-area seat is expected to bring the chamber to a tie. Once the House is evenly divided, Democrats and Republicans will co-chair the committees under the deal.

Hortman, who served as House speaker for the past six years, said she conceded the speakership in order to get a deal that included co-chairs on committees and an agreement to seat Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee.

Republicans had challenged Tabke’s 14-vote election victory in court after Scott County election officials lost 20 absentee ballots in one precinct. A judge upheld Tabke’s victory last month, but Republicans suggested they still could refuse to seat him if Democrats showed up.

The House Ethics Committee will hold a hearing about Tabke’s election but won’t take further action. Future election contests will also be heard in the committee, according to the agreement.

“This agreement honors and protects the will of the voters both in Shakopee and statewide,” Hortman said. “That’s what Democrats have been asking for since the beginning.”

The House was set to be tied 67-67 until a judge ruled in December that Democrat Curtis Johnson didn’t live in the Roseville-area district he was elected to represent and was ineligible to take office. That gave Republicans a temporary 67-66 advantage that initially caused them to back away from power-sharing talks with Democrats.

On Thursday, both sides acknowledged the situation meant Democrats were going to have to give up the speakership. Hortman said she had to persuade the DFL members of her caucus to agree.

“The caucus is very protective of our leader,” said Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis. “It was a real sacrifice personally. ... The caucus recognizes that.”

Demuth said “having the opportunity to serve as the first person of color and the first female Republican speaker of the House is an absolute honor.” She hopes it opens doors for others to follow her.

There will be some limitations on Demuth’s power as speaker, and it requires 68 votes to pass any bill in the chamber, meaning proposals in the chamber must have bipartisan support.

Democrats had boycotted legislative proceedings since the session started Jan. 14 to deprive Republicans of the quorum needed to conduct House business. The Supreme Court sided with Democrats that 68 votes are needed to do business in the chamber, voiding action Republicans took in the first weeks of session.

Republicans filed a subsequent lawsuit with the Supreme Court challenging Secretary State Steve Simon’s role as presiding officer in the chamber and his ability to deny legislators from presenting motions. They wanted to penalize DFL legislators by issuing fines or withholding some of their salary.

The court still held oral arguments in the case, which were scheduled for Thursday, but Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said they would no longer seek penalties against Democrats.

The details of the agreement will be passed off the House floor Thursday afternoon and committees will return to work on Monday. Republicans also were eager for a new GOP-led House Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee to start its work. The GOP will chair the committee for two years and have a 5-3 voting margin over the DFL under the deal reached by House leaders.

“We have to address the waste, fraud and abuse,” said Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia. “I would be shocked if my colleagues on the DFL side of the aisle were not in favor of preventing waste, fraud and abuse.”

The major work of the session will be passing a two-year budget agreement before the constitutional deadline to adjourn in May. Minnesota has a small projected surplus for the current two-year budget but is facing a possible $5.1 billion shortfall in 2028-2029.

“Even though we had these rough few weeks, we can turn the page now,” Hortman said.

“We need to get a budget done, so I think all of our energy will be focused on that.”