This story was originally published by the Minnesota Reformer.
Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislative leaders convened with Gov. Tim Walz Thursday morning, Nov. 21, to set the table for power-sharing negotiations that will shape the course of the 2025-26 legislative session.
The meeting was “cordial” and “professional,” though little progress was made on the specifics of how the parties will work together next year, said House GOP Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring, during a media availability following the meeting.
During her own news conference Thursday, DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park referenced the acrimonious partisanship of the past few years: “I think everybody deserves a chance to have a fresh start.”
With the House likely tied 67-67 — pending recounts in Sherburne and Scott counties, both of which are expected to confirm the preliminary results — the two parties must negotiate a power-sharing agreement. At stake: Who will hold the gavel and when, and which bills will be heard in committee and on the House floor.
Leaders have already announced that committees will be led by two co-chairs, one from each party, and membership will be evenly split along party lines. Partisan research staff will be adjusted to reflect the increase in Republican members and the decrease in DFL members, Demuth said Thursday, which means the House DFL will have to cut staff.
The meeting among legislative leaders and Walz occurred just weeks after Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris lost in the general election and Republicans won half of the seats in the Minnesota House, ending the DFL trifecta. After months in the national spotlight, Walz returned to Minnesota still smarting from attacks from local and national Republicans over his exaggerated statements and his role in spending a nearly $18 billion surplus on a laundry list of DFL priorities during the 2023 legislative session.
Now, Walz and other DFL leaders will need at least one Republican vote in the House to pass anything — including a balanced two-year budget, which lawmakers must approve by June 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
For Republican leaders, memories of the chaotic end to the 2024 session are still fresh. After Republicans spent days protracting debate, DFL leaders used a rare procedural rule to shut down debate and push through a 1,400-page bill in the final hour of the session as Republicans in both chambers shouted in protest.
At post-session press conferences, the parties blamed each other for the chaos.
And still hanging over the DFL is a felony burglary charge against Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, who allegedly broke into her stepmother’s Detroit Lakes home in April. Mitchell pleaded not guilty in August and the case has not yet been resolved.
Democrats have only a one-seat majority in the Senate, so if Mitchell were to resign or miss time — as she did immediately following her arrest in the spring — the Senate, too, would be tied.
Republicans protested Mitchell’s return to the Senate after her arrest, as she was the critical 34th vote on several bills passed along party lines. Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to block Mitchell from voting; Mitchell cast the deciding vote allowing her continued participation.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said Thursday that if the DFL had worked more closely with Republicans last session — i.e. not passed bills along strict party lines — Mitchell’s participation in the Senate would not have been as big of an issue.
Moving forward, he suggested, Democrats could avoid a dust-up over Mitchell’s role in the Senate if the party works to secure Republican votes.
“There was a lot of discussion of how we can work more bipartisanly,” Johnson said. ”It takes that issue more off the table.”
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