Democrats and Republicans reach deal to end Minnesota House stalemate

The nearly monthlong impasse that halted business in the Minnesota House ended late Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to get back to work.

House GOP Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, will be the chamber’s speaker through 2026 under the deal reached by the two caucuses, according to multiple sources briefed on the agreement. Demuth, who is Black, will be the first person of color to become speaker of the Minnesota House.

Republicans will chair all House committees for the next month while they hold a 67-66 advantage. A March 11 special election for a safely blue Roseville-area seat, called by Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday, is expected to bring the chamber to a tie. Once the House is evenly divided, Democrats and Republicans will co-chair the committees.

The House DFL and GOP caucuses issued a brief joint statement Wednesday night, saying “an agreement has been reached to organize the Minnesota House effective Thursday. More information will follow tomorrow morning.”

House Democrats will return to the State Capitol for the first time this session. They had boycotted legislative proceedings since the session started Jan. 14 to deprive Republicans of the quorum needed to conduct House business. The DFLers held out because they wanted Republicans to agree to share power with the impending special election expected to give the House an even split.

Democrats said they were still doing their jobs while away from the Capitol, meeting with constituents and working with staff to draft bills. They were sworn into office in a private ceremony at the Minnesota History Center two days before session began. DFLers continued to collect their salaries during the boycott.

Republicans had wanted to use their momentary one-vote advantage to elect a House speaker and take control of committees for the next two years. They argued that Democrats had only themselves to blame for being down a seat. The House was set to be tied 67-67 until a judge ruled in December that Democrat Curtis Johnson didn’t live in the Roseville-area district he was elected to represent and was ineligible to take office.

GOP members attempted to run the House without Democrats for the first two weeks of session and ended up before the state Supreme Court, which ruled they couldn’t conduct business without a quorum of 68 members.

For nearly two weeks afterward, House Republicans continued to show up but couldn’t convene without the quorum. Secretary of State Steve Simon, who’s required to serve as the House’s initial presiding officer, would rule there weren’t enough members and adjourn.

Another sticking point in the House impasse was the status of Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee. Republicans challenged Tabke’s 14-vote election victory in court after Scott County election officials lost 20 absentee ballots in one precinct. A judge upheld Tabke’s victory last month, but Republicans suggested they still could refuse to seat him if Democrats showed up.

Tabke will be seated under the deal reached by House leaders late Wednesday. The House Ethics Committee will hold a hearing about Tabke’s election but won’t take further action, according to sources briefed on the agreement.

The agreement also creates a GOP-led House Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee to investigate fraud in state government programs. Republicans will chair the committee for two years and have a 5-3 voting margin over the DFL.

Pressure had built on lawmakers this week as the House stalemate dragged on. The Republican Party of Minnesota held a news conference Tuesday announcing it would file recall petitions against the absent Democrats. House Republicans also were set to return to the state Supreme Court on Thursday to ask the justices to help them compel Democrats to show up, suspend their salaries or impose fines.

It was unclear if the planned Supreme Court hearing would happen after House leaders reached a deal late Wednesday.

Negotiations between the two House caucuses picked up in recent days after stalling late last week. House leaders brought teams of their colleagues with them to negotiations in hopes of a breakthrough.

“We’re hoping that this will result in some movement in the right direction. We’ve really done a disservice to the citizens of Minnesota by not convening the House and getting to work,” Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, told reporters on Monday.

With the standoff behind them, House lawmakers will soon start the hard work of crafting a new two-year state budget. The House must work with the DFL-controlled Senate and Walz to pass a budget before the Legislature’s late-May adjournment deadline. The state is facing a projected future budget deficit of $5.1 billion in the 2028-2029 biennium.