2025 Minnesota Legislature – a look ahead
Challenged elections, legal rulings, and the death of a sitting and influential DFL Senator were all story lines in the final days of 2024. They will have a lasting impact on the 2025 Legislative Session and may create stalemates in both bodies when the Legislature returns on January 14th.
We are very sad to report the recent death of DFL, State Senator Kari Dziedzic. She was first elected to the Minnesota State Senate District 60 in a Special Election in 2012. She represented parts of North Minneapolis and surrounding communities. Dziedzic’s family has a history of political activity and ties to Minnesota’s hockey community. Following the DFL take over of the Minnesota Senate in 2022, she was elected the Senate Majority Leader. During the historic 2023 Session, Dziedzic was responsible for holding together a caucus with a one seat majority, passing several critical and controversial DFL proposals and a budget. Right after her election as Majority Leader, Sen. Dziedzic announced she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She continued to serve as the Leader while receiving medical care. In January of 2024, she announced the cancer had returned and she stepped aside as the caucus leader and focused on beating cancer and serving her constituents. Her level head and leadership style will be missed, and her death creates a 33-33 tie in the Minnesota Senate.
Governor Walz has called for a Special Election on January 28th to fill the now vacant seat. The seat is in a solidly blue district, and the outcome of the election will most certainly result in the Senate DFL going back to a 34-33 majority. Until the Special Election, and the certification of the results, it is unlikely the Senate will be able to organize, elect a Senate President and begin the process of governing. For those activities to happen before the Special Election, DFL Leaders would need to reach some type of compromise with either the entire Senate GOP Caucus or at least one member of the GOP Caucus.
Further adding to the challenges of the Senate DFL Majority is the pending felony first-degree burglary trial of Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury). Last week, the Judge overseeing the trial scheduled jury selection to begin on January 27th, with an additional trial hearing set for January 14th, also the first day of the 2025 Legislative Session. Following her arrest in the home of her stepmother in April of last year, DFL Leaders suspended her from their caucus and removed her from all her committee assignments. Governor Walz, numerous DFL and GOP Senators and DFL Party Leaders have all called for her to resign from the Senate. The Senate Ethics Committee is also in the process of investigating Senator Mitchell. If she is found guilty and forced to leave the MN Senate, we would once again return to a tied body and an additional special election in a more purple legislative district.
Just as we were beginning to wrap our heads around the impacts of the fall elections and a Minnesota House tied at 67-67, the Minnesota Courts have thrown at least one curveball to the power sharing agreement and negotiations between the House DFL and GOP Leaders. Right before the Christmas Break, a district court judge sided with an election challenge and ruled DFL Representative-elect Curtis Johnson (Roseville) failed to meet the residency requirements for running in a House district and ruled him ineligible to be sworn into office when the Legislature begins the 2025 Session on January 14th. Late last month, Johnson announced he would not appeal the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court creating a vacancy in the Minnesota Legislature. Those decisions will grant the GOP what may be a short-term 67-66 majority on January 14th. Following those announcements, GOP Speaker Designee Lisa Demuth announced given the GOP Majority, there will no longer be any need for a power-sharing agreement.
The GOP will elect a Speaker, eliminate the DFL Co-Chairs from all committees and rebalance committees to represent the GOP Majority. Once those decisions are approved by the body, even if the DFL wins the Special Election in House District 40B to fill the Johnson seat, the DFL with 67 votes cannot change those decisions as any motions would fail on a tie vote. Further complicating this issue was a legal challenge filed late Friday by the Minnesota Republican Party against Governor Walz regarding the timing of the Special Election. Arguing the seat doesn’t become vacant until January 14th when the 2025 Legislative Session begins, and that Governor Walz failed to follow a Minnesota Law which designates the timing of a Special Election when a seat is left vacant by an election challenge, they would delay the Special Election until sometime in late February or March.
We are also waiting for a ruling in an election challenge in House District 54A, where Republicans are challenging Rep. Brad Tabke’s 14 vote victory. At least 20 absentee ballots have been lost in that race. The Republican candidate is seeking a new election due to the missing ballots. We expect the Judge to issue his opinion prior to January 14th. With a one-seat majority on January 14th, House Republicans could also refuse to seat Rep. Tabke based upon the missing ballots.
There are plenty of rumors circulating St. Paul about how the DFL and GOP members may attempt to influence activities during the early days of the session. Some are suggesting members of the minority caucuses my refuse to show up on the 14th, denying quorums. The potential exists for even further litigation and regardless of how they start the session, it will take 68 votes in the House and 35 votes in the Senate to pass any legislation. We know one thing is for sure, the opening day is going to be something no Minnesota Political Junkie will want to miss. We will provide additional updates as we near the start of the session.
If all the legislative drama wasn’t enough – we have more exciting news to report about our team at Hill Capitol Strategies. Joining us this year at the Capitol will be Justin Emmerich. Justin most recently served as the Committee Administrator for the MN Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, Environment and Climate where he worked closely with the Committee Chair and DFL Senator Nick Frentz. In addition to starting his own consulting firm, Emmerich Consulting, Justin will be working with our clients on several issues this session as a consultant to Hill Capitol Strategies. Justin is looking forward to working at the Capitol in a new role, we are excited to have Justin on our team and look forward to his insight and expertise working with the DFL controlled Senate.
Happy New Year and we look forward to another interesting session in 2025.
Todd A. Hill
(612) 961-5106
HillCapitolStrategies.com