Minnesota House Democrats Boycott 2025 Session Start, GOP Gets to Work Electing Demuth of Cold Spring Speaker

(KNSI) — St. Cloud area Representative Dan Wolgamott joined his fellow House Democrats in boycotting the first day of the 2025 Minnesota Legislative Session, denying quorum for Republicans for what Wolgamott called an “illegitimate power grab” by the GOP.

Democrats and Republicans were set to start with a 67-67 tie, but a Democratic representative from District 40B was denied his seat because he lied about where he actually lived and his address was not in that district. That gave the GOP a one seat majority for now. A special election for the district will be held later this month, and Dems say they’ll sit out until after that election is over.

Republicans meanwhile got to work and elected Representative Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring as House Speaker, which Democrats called invalid and an “attempted coup.” They also threatened court challenges to any elections for officers without their presence, thereby stalling any forward progress that could have been made if they had just shown up.

In a statement, Wolgamott said, “Minnesotans voted for a tied Minnesota House of Representatives, and want Republicans and Democrats to work together. Instead, what we saw today was a disgusting attempt by my Republican colleagues to silence the will of the voters, and it will not stand. Until House Republicans honor the will of the voters and agree to a bipartisan power-sharing agreement, I will be in my district, working with members of our community to ensure my constituents’ voices are heard in a legitimate House of Representatives, and visiting college campuses in my capacity as Co-Chair of the House Higher Education Committee.”

Democrats and Republicans had engaged in power-sharing negotiations since the conclusion of the 2024 election that ended in a tie. Representative Melissa Hortman offered a compromise to Speaker Demuth that would have Republicans run the Minnesota House for the next three weeks while they have a one-seat advantage until after the outcome of a January 28th special election in a safe DFL district, at which point the Minnesota House would operate under the power-sharing agreement Hortman and Demuth negotiated over the past 60 days.

Following the swearing in of all 67 Republican House members and her election as Speaker, Demuth released a statement declaring, “House Republicans are ready to get work stopping the fraud, making life more affordable for families, raising standards and reducing mandates for our schools, making our communities safer, and building for the future by making Minnesota a better place to invest and create jobs. I am deeply honored to serve as Speaker of the House, and look forward to working with all of my colleagues in the House, the Senate, and Governor [Tim] Walz to do the work Minnesotans sent us here for this session. While I’m disappointed Democrats failed to follow state law by refusing to show up for work, I’m confident we can still work together for a productive session.”

Governor Walz issued his own statement Tuesday, saying, “As much as Republicans want to govern as a single party, the law is the law and the House is not in session.”

The DFL has governed as a single party since taking the House, Senate and Governor’s office, labeling itself a Democratic trifecta.

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