2 weeks Ago By Mary Murphy
ST. PAUL — House leaders say they will work to find a power-sharing agreement after Tuesday’s general election put the Minnesota House at a historic 67-67 tie for the first time since 1979. House leaders held separate press briefings at the state Capitol on Wednesday, Nov.
6, to address the tie and express optimism for what they said is an opportunity for bipartisan work in the House. ADVERTISEMENT “We flipped a coin and it landed on its side,” Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, joked at Wednesday’s briefing.
Leaders said they are looking at a power-sharing agreement rather than opting to obtain a majority. Minnesota law forbids the House from having two speakers, but leaders said they have other options — like negotiating committee chairs or bringing in non-partisan staff. “We would be finding a power-sharing agreement,” said Rep.
Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Springs. “I can’t speak directly to what that power-sharing agreement would be, but everything is on the table right now.” The DFL was set to caucus Thursday and Republicans will caucus Friday to select a representative to negotiate the power-sharing agreement on behalf of each party.
While the Senate and governorship remain in DFL control, Republicans successfully flipped three House seats in Tuesday’s election, landing them with a tie in the lower chamber. Demuth declared this a win of “bringing back balance” and breaking the DFL trifecta of a blue governor, Senate and House. Two DFL-held seats — 14B in St.
Cloud and 54A in Shakopee — had tight results and are headed for recounts, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, but leaders said this likely won’t change results and that they plan to move forward under this expectation. While representatives of both parties said Wednesday that they would prefer to have the majority, they also expressed seeing the situation as an opportunity to work across the aisle. ADVERTISEMENT “I think one really good thing about having a power-sharing agreement is you wouldn't have a kind of dynamic on the floor where one party lays down on the railroad track and another party feels that they have to go to extraordinary means to pass bills,” Hortman said.
“It is a golden opportunity to show people that we can get along and we can get things done.” Demuth said the tie results can be seen as a reflection of her party’s frustration with a lack of bipartisan work over the past two years of the DFL trifecta. “Minnesotans were very clear that what they’ve experienced over the last two years was they wanted something different.
They wanted that balance,” she said. “This is a perfect opportunity for us to work together with our Democrat colleagues and bring civility back where there’s been a lack of that.” Sen.
Aric Putnam, DFL-St.Cloud, said from where he’s sitting in the Senate, he was surprised by these results. “I think anyone who is honest, who is looking at this, is going to have to admit that they were surprised, even those who were ambitious,” he said.
Putnam said he sees a challenge for his counterparts in the House, specifically for leaders to keep their governing bodies in order. He said everyone likes the idea of a divided government in theory, but said there are “toxic egos that operate in politics these days” to keep in mind. “It could work fine if everyone’s gonna be a grown-up,” he said.
“I think that some folks will be perfectly comfortable prioritizing Minnesotans and the things that we need to get done and things that people want. But that’s not everybody.” ADVERTISEMENT Putnam said the results of this year’s general election are an opportunity “for humility.
” “It should make people go, ‘OK, well, why did things go that way? How can we make the way things happen work for more people?’ ” he said. “And even when you win, that should be your response, and, when you lose, it definitely ought to be. Everyone should take politics home and ask, ‘You know, are we really listening?’ ” DFL leaders say they think they lost the seats because of the “red” wave President-elect Donald J.
Trump has brought across suburbs. Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, said DFL candidates received more votes in Minnesota in total, but that this was largely due to the Twin Cities metro area.
“We [DFL] still have folks who are representing many Greater Minnesota communities and who did win in Greater Minnesota, but certainly when Donald Trump is on the ballot, we’ve seen the turnout in rural communities increase, and we’ve seen challenges for our candidates in those communities,” Long said. Leaders at the press briefings also discussed the possibility for the Minnesota Legislature to modernize by changing the number of seats to an odd number to prevent a tie or shortening negotiations on the floor..
