Democrats Boycott Minnesota Legislature Over GOP “Abuse of Power”
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Democrats Boycott Minnesota Legislature Over GOP “Abuse of Power”

An extraordinary scene unfolded in St. Paul on Tuesday as Democratic members of the Minnesota House of Representatives staged a complete boycott of the legislative session. In a show of defiance, they refused to even enter the chamber, leaving a visibly frustrated Republican majority facing rows of empty seats.

The boycott, which Democrats say was their only recourse to combat what they see as a blatant “abuse of power” by the GOP, has ground the people’s business to a halt and thrust the state into uncharted political waters.

The Roots of the Conflict

The seeds of this standoff were planted in the 2024 elections, which left the Minnesota House deadlocked at 67 seats for each party. In the wake of that result, leaders from both sides began negotiating a power-sharing agreement predicated on the assumption of an evenly split chamber.

However, those plans were thrown into disarray when a judge ruled last month that a newly elected Democrat was ineligible to serve because he did not live in the heavily Democratic district that elected him. That decision handed Republicans a razor-thin 67-66 majority, at least until a special election can be held in mid-January to fill the now-vacant seat.

GOP’s “Shameless Power Grab”

Rather than sticking to the power-sharing framework, Democratic leaders say, the GOP immediately moved to exploit their temporary one-seat advantage, declaring their intent to ram through partisan priorities in the two weeks before the special election restores the tie.

“We cannot allow Republicans to engage in this unprecedented abuse of power, and we will use every tool at our disposal to block it.”

– House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman

Democrats view these maneuvers as a shameless power grab and insist they won’t provide a quorum to enable what they see as an undemocratic ploy. They point out that Minnesota voters chose a 50-50 split and argue Republicans are subverting the will of the people by leveraging an “accidental” momentary edge.

A Disputed Seat Adds Fuel to the Fire

Compounding the tensions is the status of Democratic Representative Brad Tabke, who won reelection by a mere 14 votes in a race where about 20 ballots went missing. Republicans are refusing to seat Tabke and tried to force a redo election in his district – a move blocked by the courts. But because the legislature itself has final say on seating its members, the GOP majority can effectively deny Tabke his seat if Democrats were to end their boycott and provide a quorum.

Unprecedented Tactics on Both Sides

As the standoff dragged on through Tuesday afternoon, Republicans tried to press ahead with their agenda anyway. But their efforts ran straight into a competing claim of authority from Minnesota’s Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon. Upon gaveling the session to order, Simon promptly declared that no quorum was present and therefore the House could conduct no further business before adjourning the session himself.

While walkouts and quorum-busting maneuvers have been deployed by minority parties before in states like Wisconsin and Oregon, the total absence of an entire caucus and the attempt to shut down business by the Secretary of State appears to be without precedent in Minnesota or anywhere else.

The Path Forward Remains Unclear

With both sides dug in, it’s unclear how the legislature can function in the short term. The GOP asserts the quorum is 67 and has tried to elect a new speaker and assign committees. But without Democrats’ assent to those actions, a raft of legal challenges is all but certain.

What is clear is that the legislature’s ability to address pressing issues facing Minnesotans – from public safety to infrastructure to education – is paralyzed for the foreseeable future. And even after the special election, the bitterness engendered by these hardball tactics threatens to poison any attempt at bipartisan cooperation in the session ahead.

For now, Minnesotans can only watch and wait as the battle for control of their state House plays out – not on the floor of the people’s chamber, but in the shadows of a volatile procedural chess match between two parties that increasingly view politics as a zero-sum game.