5 hours Ago By Mary Murphy
ST. PAUL — Sen. Doron Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, was sworn in on the Senate floor Monday morning, giving the majority back to Democrats and triggering a contentious debate on whether the Senate power-sharing arrangement should end.
After the death of Sen. Kari Dziedzic left a vacant Senate seat and triggered a 33-33 tie between DFL and Republican members of the chamber, the Senate took to operating under a power-sharing agreement over the first three weeks of the legislative session. ADVERTISEMENT Clark, who won the election last week for the open District 60 seat, was sworn in at 11 a.
m. Monday, Feb. 3, giving the DFL a majority and prompting over an hour of Senate debate over whether to revert to a power-sharing arrangement.
“In respect for the will of the voters, District 60, and our new member, it is time to dissolve the power-sharing agreement,” said Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul. “But what we have experienced together in these last few weeks, the ability to balance our interests, to work together in committees, to build relationships with one another, and to show Minnesotans that the Senate is open and ready to do work across the aisle .
.. must continue.
” Senate Republicans made several efforts during Monday’s floor session to maintain some form of power-sharing agreement — introducing amendments to elect a Republican president pro-tem and maintain some co-chairs in committees — but all of the amendments failed in either a 34-33 vote along party lines or in a tie. “Bipartisanship in the Senate is dead,” said Minority Leader Sen. Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks.
“We saw today that minutes after we swore in Sen. Clark, there was a vote taken to end bipartisanship that has put Minnesotans first for these last three weeks. It’s extremely disappointing to me and my colleagues at the Republican caucus here.
I’m hoping that we can work together, and hoping to continue that as you heard in the speeches on the floor.” Sen. Judy Seeberger, DFL-Afton, was one of the only Democrats to show hesitation in voting to dissolve the power-sharing agreement, originally voting no with Republicans to keep the power-sharing, before ultimately changing her vote in favor of dissolving the agreement.
Seeberger said that having won her district by a narrow 321 votes in 2022, she feels she represents “not only Democrats in my district but Republicans.” “I have found the last few weeks to be a very productive use of our time, to work together across the aisle ..
. on common-sense bills. It is my hope that that will continue,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have any assurances from everyone in my caucus that we will. I have struggled with what I’ve heard from my constituents, what they want to see me do to represent them, because, quite frankly, I have a fair number of constituents in my district that do not feel represented by what we have done in the Legislature over the past two years.” ADVERTISEMENT After Monday’s floor session, the Senate will operate with Sen.
Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, as president and with DFL senators as sole chairs of committees..
