DFL wins special election, locking Minnesota House in 67-67 tie with Republicans

As expected, DFL candidate David Gottfried ran away with a victory in Tuesday’s special election for District 40B, securing shared power for his party in the Minnesota House.

Gottfried won 70% of the vote against Republican challenger Paul Wikstrom and will represent the Roseville-Shoreview area. The victory will lock the two parties into a 67-67 tie in the House.

“It feels great,” Gottfried said of the results. “This has been a really, really hard-fought election. We knocked on doors every day. It feels good that we can get back to the substantive work.”

The election comes four months after DFLer Curtis Johnson won the same seat against the same opponent with 65% of the vote. But a judge later found Johnson ineligible to serve because he failed to meet state residency requirements, which ultimately prompted Tuesday’s special election.

Ken Martin, the chair of both the Democratic National Committee and the Minnesota DFL, said he was “honored to congratulate David Gottfried on his crucial special election victory.”

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams said the win moves the DFL “a step closer to our shared goal of taking back the majority in 2026.”

“In the face of the chaos in Washington, Minnesota DFLers will continue to fight for and deliver for working families across the state,” she said.

Gottfried, who works as a pro bono specialist for a local firm, told the Minnesota Star Tribune last month that he was running because he saw “a need for governance that centers shared values and practical policy.”

He said Tuesday his priorities will be to increase access to mental health care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and defending paid family medical leave for workers.

On the prospect of working together with Republicans, Gottfried said, “We have to.”

“If we’re going to actually be delivering substantive legislation, we have to,” he continued. “I look forward to doing so.”

Johnson’s ineligibility temporarily gave the GOP a 67-66 advantage in the House and the parties had trouble being productive.

Republicans abandoned power-sharing negotiations, elected a speaker and attempted to organize committees without Democrats, who were absent at the start of the legislative session in January.

Democrats boycotted the session for three weeks, in an attempt to withhold a quorum for Republicans to conduct business. Sixty-eight votes are needed to conduct any business in the House.

The two parties did not come to a power-sharing deal until early February, with House GOP leader Lisa Demuth acting as speaker. It is expected that Democrats and Republicans will co-chair committees now that the House is evenly divided.

To earn 68 votes and pass legislation, the parties will be forced to negotiate with each other.

“While the House will return to a 67-67 tie after tonight, House Republican priorities remain unchanged: we will continue our effort to stop the fraud, protect Minnesotans from harmful tax increases, and work with our Democrat colleagues to pass a responsible and balanced budget,” Demuth said in a statement.