What's going on?

No seriously, what is happening in Minnesota right now?

Hey, everybody!

We are living in unprecedented times. I’m seeing anger, and confusion, and blaming and we haven’t made it through January. Many are asking the question that I fear we will be asking multiple times over the next few years -

How did we get here?

The house chamber stands half-empty as Democratic representatives boycott the session on the first day of the 94th legislative session at the Minnesota State Capitol Building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer.

Timeline

• Sen. Nicole Mitchell arrested and charged with burglary

• Curtis Johnson (40B) elected in November

• Brad Tabke (54A) wins very close election in November

• DFL and GOP House leaders negotiate leadership sharing rules for 2025 session

• GOP brings lawsuit challenging Johnson’s residency

• GOP lawsuit challenges the election results in Minnesota House District 54A

• Court rules Johnson does not meet residency requirements

• Sen Kari Dziedzic dies

• Governor Walz schedules special elections

• GOP challenges timing of special elections in court

• GOP House members declare that they have a quorum with 67 members and will not be honoring power-sharing agreements

• DFL House members boycott the session in order to deny a quorum

• Secretary of State declares that A 68-member quorum is required to conduct House business

• DFL files lawsuit against GOP alleging an unlawful and unconstitutional session

• Scott County judge upholds Brad Tabke's win in 54A

• GOP threatens to not seat Tabke and to initiate recalls for other elected House members

• Court rules that Sen. Mitchell’s criminal trial will be held after the end of the session based on state law

• Court rules that special elections were improperly scheduled

• By the time this is posted something else may have happened

  

Why are the Democratic representatives boycotting?

The following is my opinion. I have not discussed this with any of my friends or aquaintances who are legislators.

As I see it there are two important reasons to boycott:

1. Upholding the will of the voters

   1. Minnesotans elected a divided house of 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans. Refusing to abide by the previously negotiated power-sharing agreements is subverting the will of the voters

   2. Refusing to seat a duly elected (as upheld by the court) official and denying representation to an entire district is indefensible

2. Getting to work won’t work

It’s time for Storytime with Kimberly!

Come with me back to 2019. Tim Walz was the newly elected governor. The DFL controlled the House and the GOP controlled the Senate. The session began normally enough. Several bills that were supported by the majority of Minnesotans had Democratic and Republican authors and were making their way through committee. Then things changed, Republicans withdrew their names as co-authors and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka instructed committee chairs to not allow those bills out of committee for a floor vote.

But Kimberly, why would they do such a thing?

Well, I’m glad you asked. So it turns out that there was a group of right-wing extremists that began making things difficult for Senate Republicans. They began harassing them for daring to work with Democrats and threatened to challenge them in primaries. Republican leadership was afraid that some of these challengers might win a primary but be too radical to win a general election. So they endeavored not to give challengers anything to use against the incumbents - no co-authoring bills and no voting record to criticize. So working for their constituents became secondary to not losing power.

But Kimberly, it’s not all the same people as 2019 and this is the House not the Senate!

Yep. I would argue that you have more MAGA Republicans who have zero interest in serving their constituents if it means working in good faith with DFLers. So, if the DFL were to accept a Republican majority in the house and “get to work”, the chances of getting meaningful legislation passed, in my opinion, is very low. So, if they can’t do the job they were elected to do, why would they show up?

What does all this mean for the legislative session?

I dunno. Seriously though, things could still change. We are still awaiting court decisions. There may be an appeal on the Tabke decision. It seems like things are changing by the minute - almost everything I shared in my last newsletter is now null and void. (See flailing gif above).

The Senate seems to be functioning.

I’m personally not holding out hope for much being accomplished this session but we’ll see how it goes. I know representatives are still working even if it’s not at the Capitol so maybe they can come back (hopefully with a full contingent and negotiated power-sharing) and hit the ground running. Stranger things. . .

The search for a tagline continues:

I’m done! seems to encapsulate my current state of being.

So until next time, this has been Kimberly and I’m done!

Enjoy some more public-domain Disney with a clip from Skeleton Dance:

Walt Disney, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I’m just leaving these here forever. They bring me joy.