The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) welcomes Megan Verdeja of United Strategies as its new lobbyist. Verdeja and the United Strategies team will keep MAFP members informed about what’s happening at the Minnesota State Capitol with regular updates throughout the 2025 legislative session. This first update provides a recap of the 2024 election results and an outlook on what’s next for Minnesota.
By Megan Verdeja and the United Strategies Team
Election Recap: Minnesota House Repeats History
For the second time in its history, the composition of the Minnesota House of Representatives is tied 67-67, barring any changes from two automatic recounts that will be held.
Going into the election, House Democrats controlled the body 70-64 but lost their advantage when three Greater Minnesota seats flipped:
- 7B on the Iron Range, an open seat formerly held by Representative Dave Lislegard (DFL-Aurora)
- 18A in North Mankato, occupied by Representative Jeff Brand (DFL-St. Peter)
- 26A in Winona, an open seat formerly held by Representative Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona)
These changes reinforce Minnesota’s geographic partisan divide, with rural Minnesota becoming redder and the metro remaining blue. The House GOP had targeted a handful of suburban seats but made no inroads, as Democrats protected their incumbents in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
Two DFL incumbents — Dan Wolgamott in 14B and Brad Tabke in 54A — narrowly held onto their seats, winning by 28 votes and 13 votes, respectively, within the 0.5% margin that triggers automatic recounts. (Note: If either of these seats flips to a Republican win after the recount, the GOP will gain control of the House.)
How Does a Tied House Govern?
House Democrats and Republicans will need to negotiate a leadership plan to organize before they can appoint committees or conduct any legislative business. Whether that will be possible in this hyper-partisan environment—and what it might look like—remains to be seen.
When the House was previously tied in 1979, after months of negotiations that delayed the start of the session, the compromise was to give the GOP the speakership, while the DFL received three key chairmanships (Rules, Taxes and Appropriations). The GOP then got all of the remaining chairmanships, and some committees were majority GOP, while others were DFL. This governance plan worked until the last 10 days of the session, when everything broke down, prompting a special session—a scenario we could see again, as 2025 is a budget year.
21 New House Members
Due to legislative retirements and the loss of Jeff Brand, 21 new members were elected last night. These include:
- 01B, Steve Gander (GOP)
- 02A, Bidal Duran (GOP)
- 07B, Cal Warwas (GOP)
- 08A, Pete Johnson (DFL)
- 16A, Scott Van Binsbergen (GOP)
- 19A, Keith Allen (GOP)
- 19B, Tom Sexton (GOP)
- 22B, Terry Stier (GOP)
- 26A, Aaron Repinski (GOP)
- 28A, James Gordon (GOP)
- 28B, Max Rymer (GOP)
- 35B, Kari Rehrauer (DFL)
- 38A, Huldah Hiltsley (DFL)
- 40B, Curtis Johnson (DFL)
- 41A, Wayne Johnson (GOP)
- 41B, Tom Dippel (GOP)
- 49A, Alex Falconer (DFL)
- 50A, Julie Greene (DFL)
- 58B, Drew Roach (GOP)
- 61A, Katie Jones (DFL)
- 62B, Anquam Mahamoud (DFL)
Election Recap: DFL Maintains Control of Minnesota Senate
In the Minnesota Senate, the only race on the ballot was a special election in SD 45, triggered by the resignation of Senator Kelly Morrison, MD, who ran for the open seat in Minnesota’s Third Congressional District. Democrat Ann Johnson Stewart, who served in the Senate 2021-2022, defeated her GOP opponent Kathleen Fowke by almost 5 points, keeping the Senate under Democratic control.
However, the body could return to a 33-33 tie mid-session if Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury), who was charged with felony burglary last year, is found guilty and forced to resign. Her jury trial has been postponed several times and is now scheduled for January 27, 2025.
Election Recap: Minnesota Congressional Delegation Remains Split
Minnesota’s Congressional districts remain split, with four Republican members and four Democrats.
Millions of dollars were spent to flip Congressional District 2, held by Democrat Angie Craig. She not only held her seat but grew her margin from 5% in 2022 to 13% in her victory over newcomer Joe Teirab.
Joining the congressional delegation is former state senator Kelly Morrison, MD (DFL), who won her race in CD 3, an open seat due to the retirement of Democrat Dean Phillips.
What’s Next
In the next week or two, all four legislative caucuses will meet to elect their leaders for the upcoming session. Since 2025 is the start of a new biennium, or two-year cycle, new legislative leadership, committee chairs and committee memberships will be appointed. Senate Democrats should be able to do this rather quickly. On the House side, this process cannot begin until the GOP and DFL leaders come to an agreement on how to share leadership. This may not happen before the start of session on January 14, 2025.
At the start of December, the November Budget Forecast will be released. It provides the guidelines for how much money will be available to spend on state agencies and programs. While 2023 saw the largest surplus in state history—$17 billion—the bottom line for 2025 is expected to be positive but fairly modest.
Before the 2025 session begins, read a recap of what happened in 2024.
