As it stands right now, the Minnesota House of Representatives is finding itself in an unusual predicament with 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans. And that's begging the question, "who will be Speaker of the House?"
Current Republican Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R- Cold Spring) says the Republicans are focused on bridging divides.
"This is the opportunity for us to work together with our colleagues, the Democrats, across the aisle and find ways to best serve Minnesotans," Demuth says.
"So, I just echo a lot of the things that Leader Demuth said, I think that there will be an opportunity for us to show Minnesotans some good bipartisan working together and getting things done," current House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL- Brooklyn Park) said.
There hasn't been a tie in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 1979. Will this group be ready to work together better than that famously deadlocked group did in '79. That year, the DFL and the Independent-Republicans (the party name at the time) were forced to forge a compromise by which the Independent-Republicans were to elect the Speaker from among their own ranks, while the DFL were given the chairmanship of, and one-vote majorities on, the rules and tax committees. It took months of negotiation to get to that point.
Demuth says they need to be unified this upcoming session.
"This is the perfect opportunity, as I said, for us to work together with our Democratic colleagues and bring civility back where there has been a lack of that," Demuth explained Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul. "As we have seen, we want to work together to serve Minnesotans in the best way."
Hortman says they've co-managed before and can do it again.
"We had great experience doing that when the Minnesota Senate was governed by Republicans," recalled Hortman. "I have a great relationship with (former) Senator Paul Gazelka. I think we, with Governor Walz, were able to get some good things done and I look forward to having that kind of a relationship with Leader Demuth.
Meanwhile, Governor Tim Walz returns to the state after months of campaigning around the country as the vice presidential nominee for the Democrats and he is returning to a different landscape. The "DFL Trifecta" of the Senate, House and Governor's Office are gone with the House now tied.
WCCO political analyst Blois Olson says the governor will have his hands full this session which comes with the added challenge of having to pass a budget. But before that can happen, deciding who is the next Speaker of the House will take some serious negotiating behind the scenes.
"Now, behind the scenes Speaker Hortman and Leader Demuth will start to negotiate a kind of operating agreement," Olson told the WCCO Morning News. "I think Speaker Hortman has thought this through, has some ideas. I know Leader Demuth has had some thoughts on this before. So, they will also have to sell that operating agreement with their caucuses."
Olson says there will certainly be a lot of jockeying within those caucuses before an agreement is reached. He adds that in the interim Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, will serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore (temporary speaker) until they agree on a speaker.