DFL leaders join last-minute push to keep Minnesota government trifecta

Mixing progressive dreams with dire warnings, a group of DFL leaders riled up a group of volunteers in St. Paul on Thursday morning, urging them to push on through the day’s freezing rain and fatigue in the remaining days before the election.

Several elected officials including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the group of about 150 campaign staffers, volunteers and union members about how meaningful their work is to keeping DFL control of the Legislature, as the electeds start a statewide bus tour to turn out votes.

“We are here to keep our trifecta here in Minnesota,” U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got five days, people!”

On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said earlier this month that the House Republican Campaign Committee had raised a record $2.7 million ahead of the election and she said Republicans have also set records in volunteering and door-knocking as they work to break DFL control.

“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” Demuth said in a statement. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule.”

House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said she thought voters preferred action to the gridlock of divided government. “They’re looking for people who can get things done,” she said.

These last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts come as Democrats around the country push to keep control of state legislative chambers and try to flip a few statehouses that Republicans hold by just a few seats.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the national Democratic Party that works on statehouse races across the country, has spent $500,000 on Minnesota races this year, including House races and the state Senate contest.

“Every battleground chamber is within razor-thin margins and could be decided by just a handful of votes,” DLCC President Heather Williams said during a call with reporters this week. “All our polling shows that this election will be incredibly close.”

Democrats are working to keep control of legislatures in Michigan and Pennsylvania as well as Minnesota. Wisconsin’s legislative districts, redrawn by Democrats and Republicans together last year after Republican-drawn maps were deemed unconstitutional, could mean opportunity for the chambers that Republicans have held since 2010. National Democrats also hope to flip New Hampshire and gain ground in other states — all with an eye on the next round of redistricting after the 2030 Census.