Sen. Erin Murphy has been elected as the Minnesota Senate's new Majority Leader after Sen. Kari Dziedzic announced she was stepping down from the role last week amid another battle with cancer.
Sen. Murphy, D-St. Paul, was elected to the position Tuesday afternoon by the DFL Senate Caucus. Murphy served as assistant leader until her selection and chair of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Committee.
"I think it shows the progressive tilt of the caucus got their leader," said WCCO Radio political analyst Blois Olson. "Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic was seen as more of a middle of the road pick."
Murphy, a registered nurse, served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2007-2019 and was House majority leader from 2013-2015 before being elected to the Minnesota Senate in 2020.
Olson said uniting the caucus may be a challenge headed into the new legislative session.
"We know there's divide in the caucus over the Hamas attack on Israel and the Palestinian war and that there's divide in the caucus on key issues. Trying to make sure all 34 votes stay together on key issues will be Murphy's greatest challenge."
Minnesota Republican Party chair David Hann said Murphy's election serves as a warning to Minnesotans.
"Murphy's radical agenda includes supporting abortion up to the moment of the birth, the abolition of ICE, making Minnesota a ‘Sanctuary State,’ voting for nearly every tax increase proposed by Democrats in St. Paul, and attacking a fellow DFL senator for his criticism of anti-Israeli terrorism. Her extremism was too much, and her fellow Democrats rejected her statewide in 2018 when she was soundly defeated in the DFL Primary Election for governor. With such an extreme record, it's no surprise Erin Murphy refused to take questions from the media in her first press conference today.”
The 2024 Minnesota legislative session begins Monday, February 12. WCCO Radio is taking an in-depth look at the session, starting with how the DFL trifecta will impact the new session.
