Following the election with major gains by Democrats in Minnesota, the state's budget, and whether taxes will be raised, is the talk in St. Paul.
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) says she wants to see the state's next economic forecast before talking about raising taxes.
"We will get a budget forecast in early December that's going to help us understand the impacts of that 'Big Beautiful Bill from Washington D.C. that I mentioned that is going to take effect," Murphy told Blois Olson on WCCO's Sunday Take. "And I think we need to understand those impacts before we can really start talking about budget solutions."
The "Big Beautiful Bill" was signed into law in July, 2025, and has already brought significant healthcare, fiscal, and tax shifts to Minnesota due to federal cuts.
Reductions in federal reimbursements for programs like Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance) are forcing local counties to absorb millions in costs, contributing to rising local property taxes.
The last Minnesota budget and economic forecast shows a projected reserve of about $3.4 billion, which is a slight improvement.
But the Office of Management and Budget says spending growth is outpacing revenue going forward, with the legislature and Governor-Elect Klobuchar needing to find common ground on a new two-year budget in the 2027 session.
While Klobuchar has promised not to raise taxes, Murphy responded with more of a wait-and-see attitude towards any changes with taxes.
"The Senate, of course, has proposed a social media tax, which is not a tax on people but on the data of social media companies," she explains. "We're interested in that, but we also know that we're going to work with a new partner in the governor. So I think the real answer is we're going to do our work together and we're going to find a solution in place, which is what I think people expect us to do."
Because a previous $18 billion surplus was heavily allocated toward a record $72 billion budget under a DFL trifecta in 2023, the 2027 session must reconcile that increased spending against flattening revenue.
The Office of Management and Budget did say in their October report that there is a stronger outlook for 2027 and 2028 that has developed over several months. But by the 2028-2029 biennium, they do show a slight deficit.
Republicans say they'll hold Democrats accountable
Meanwhile, Minnesota Republican leaders are still grappling with the losses incurred during the midterms, which left the DFL in control of the Senate, House and kept the governor's office for the fifth straight election cycle.
While that grants them another trifecta, a success that was echoed widely across the U.S. in the 2026 midterms, including in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and even Arizona which has a Democrat trifecta for the first time in 60 years.
"We had voters that were so frustrated with what was going on with Washington that they wouldn't give our candidates a chance," says state Senator Jordan Rasmusson from Fergus Falls, who was elected Minority Leader by Senate Republicans on Thursday.
He reflected on the outcome with WCCO radio's Blois Olson during the Sunday Take.
"I think there were a lot of what I call double haters out there," Rasmusson says. "They were frustrated with Republicans in Washington, and they were also dissatisfied with what they saw under the Walz administration and the last Democrat trifecta."
Now with another trifecta, he says their job will include working to to hold Democrats accountable.
"Our caucus has been in a tougher spot before," he adds. "Coming out of the 2006 election, we were down as a caucus to 21 seats in the Minnesota Senate. And the next time we were on the ballot in 2010, we're able to flip 16 seats and have a 37 vote majority."
Rasmusson says they look forward to working with Democrats to help Minnesotans afford life, everything from child care to lowering the cost of drugs, and housing.
