Democrats boycott first day of Minnesota House session but GOP votes to appoint speaker anyway

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — House Democrats boycotted the opening day of Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session Tuesday in an effort to stop Republicans from exploiting a temporary majority to advance their agenda, but GOP representatives forged ahead and named their leader as speaker in a move that Democrats rejected.

There was applause as Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon entered the chamber to convene the proceedings in accordance with state law. But the Democratic side of the House chamber was empty and only Republicans replied “present” as a clerk took the roll.

Simon announced they had not reached the 68 members needed for a quorum, declared the chamber adjourned and left.

But Republicans stayed in their seats, saying that with 67 members present they had a quorum. They then voted to elect their top leader, former Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, as speaker, a move that Democrats immediately denounced as an “unlawful sham with no legal authority.”

“Make no mistake: the House was adjourned by Secretary of State Simon with no quorum. The actions of the House GOP were illegal and Lisa Demuth is not speaker,” the No. 2 House Democrat, former Majority Leader Jamie Long of Minneapolis, said on the social platform X.

Demuth vowed to “work tirelessly” to foster a “culture of respect and civility” in the House but didn’t directly mention the boycott in her acceptance speech.

“We owe it to the people that we represent to debate passionately, but we also owe them the respect of agreeing that sometimes we do disagree,” she said. “So let’s focus on what unites us.”

Republicans adjourned the session until Wednesday.

What happens next was not immediately clear. The No. 2 Republican leader, Rep. Harry Niska, of Ramsey, told reporters that the GOP was prepared for a legal challenge. He said Simon, as a member of the executive branch, is barred by the constitutional separation of powers from controlling the work of the House, and that he is confident the Minnesota Supreme Court will agree, even though all of its justices were appointed by Democratic governors.

The House came out of the November election tied 67-67, and top leaders from both parties started to work out a power-sharing agreement that presumed a tie. But a judge late last month declared that a newly elected Democrat didn’t live in his heavily Democratic district.

That gave the GOP a 67-66 majority until a special election can take place in two weeks. Republicans declared their intent to take full advantage until the tie is restored.

The GOP lost a round in the power struggle earlier Tuesday when a different judge rejected a Republican effort to force a special election in another race that Democratic incumbent Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee, won by only 14 votes. Republicans had threatened to use their power to refuse to seat him, even if they lost the court case.

The top House Democrat, former Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, indicated in a statement that seating Tabke was the key disagreement that she and Demuth could not resolve in talks Monday and Tuesday.

House Democrats held a secret swearing-in ceremony on Sunday night to try to ensure that Tabke and other members could take their seats, a move Republicans denounced.

“Democrats have no other recourse to protect the will of the voters than to deny quorum,” Hortman said in her statement. “Democrats are united in our will to fight Republican efforts to kick Representative Brad Tabke out of the Minnesota House. We cannot allow Republicans to engage in this unprecedented abuse of power, and we will use every tool at our disposal to block it.”

Hortman had proposed a power-sharing agreement for the start of the session that would let Demuth become speaker but then revert to their original deal, assuming that the special election restores the tie.

Under Minnesota law, the secretary of state calls the House to order at the start of a session, declares whether a quorum is present, and hands over the gavel when a speaker is elected. It’s normally a quick formality.

This is the first time the Minnesota Legislature has faced such a boycott, but similar stalling tactics have been used elsewhere.

Democrats in neighboring Wisconsin went into hiding in 2011 in a standoff with majority Republicans over union rights for public employees. Oregon Republicans staged multiple walkouts in recent years, including a record six-week walkout in 2023 over bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun rights. The top Democrat in the Michigan House last month ordered absent members back and barred the doors after a Democrat joined Republicans in skipping out.

The high-stakes poker in the Minnesota House contrasts with the calm that prevailed Tuesday in the state Senate, which is tied 33-33. Democrats are expected to regain a 34-33 majority after a special election, also set for Jan. 28, to fill the seat of a senator who died last month. Unlike the House, Senate leaders quietly reached a power-sharing deal that includes co-presiding officers from both parties, and their members ratified it Tuesday.