The 2025 legislative session is off to a rocky start in St. Paul.
67 of the 133 members of the Minnesota House showed up to the chambers Tuesday as Democrats continue to boycott the session over a power sharing dispute.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D) adjourned the session after finding there was not a 68 member quorum Simon says is required to conduct House business.
"There being 67 members present, there is no quorum as required by the State of Minnesota. The House may conduct no further business, and the House of Representatives is adjourned," Simon declared while Republicans attempted to object.
However, moments after that, Republicans decided to declare a quorum anyway with Republican Lisa Demuth (Cold Spring) accepting the appointment as Speaker.
"There are being 67 votes of 133 members of the whole House, I declare the quorum is present," declared Rep. Paul Anderson (R- Starbuck).
Apparent House Speaker Demuth said moving ahead without the Democrats present is what Minnesotans want.
"The Minnesota people are counting on us today, not for partisan victories or for political theater, but for real results that improve their daily lives," Demuth said.
House DFL members plan to challenge the proceedings at a press conference at 3:00 p.m. in Scott County. That's where a judge ruled earlier Tuesday that Rep. Brad Tabke (D) won a contested race that was separated by just 14 votes. The Dakota County judge held that the election of Tabke over Republican challenger Aaron Paul would stand despite the county missing enough ballots to potentially swing that result.
Republicans have said they're still weighing options and Demuth issued a statement saying the "underlying facts" of the case remain unchanged." They can still appeal the decision to the State Supreme Court.
Senate Begins Work Too
The Minnesota Senate taking a more optimistic tone Monday afternoon as the DFL and Republicans in that body have agreed to a power-sharing agreement ahead of a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of DFLer Kari Dziedzic.
"We have a tremendous amount of work ahead and our leaders could either chose chaos or cooperation, and I couldn't be more proud to be a member of the chamber that chose cooperation," said co-residing officer, Senator Jeremy Miller (R). "Because we're gonna have to work together, we're gonna have to compromise in order to get these things done."
Minnesota Senate Republicans and Democrats are in a temporary tie of 33-33. A special election is set for January 28th in District 60, the seat occupied by Dziedzic.