Tie in Minnesota House could end DFL "trifecta," but some races likely head to recount
MINNEAPOLIS — Control of the Minnesota House is still up in the air as Republicans were able to flip three seats and several other races could head towards a recount. Preliminary results by the Minnesota secretary of state's office show the House in a rare tie.
All 134 House seats were on the ballot this year, and Republicans needed to take control of four seats in order to gain a majority and end the DFL "trifecta" — control of the House, Senate and governor's office which had been in place the last two years.
They were able to pick up seats in north Mankato, Eveleth and Winona, flipping the districts by hundreds of votes.
Democrats are narrowly holding on to two seats — 14B in northeast St. Cloud and 54A in Shakopee — by 28 and 13 votes respectively, according to the secretary of state's office. Both of those races are so tight they'll likely head to a publicly-funded recount.
In the state Senate, the DFL was able to maintain control 34-33 after they won a special election in the west metro that was triggered after DFL Sen. Kelly Morrison entered the race for the 3rd Congressional District. Democratic juggernaut Ann Johnson Stewart fended off Republican challenger Kathleen Fowke, according to the secretary of state's office.
The races in the House and Senate were viewed by some as a referendum on the sweeping legislative agenda Democrats passed in the 2023 session. Progressive policy wins included codifying abortion rights, paid family leave, legalizing recreational marijuana, free school meals and much more.
"While the outcome of the state House is still unclear, retaining the majority of the state Senate will allow us to defend the historic victories that DFL leaders delivered for working families," Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin said Tuesday morning.
"The wheels of the DFL progressive bus just came to a screeching halt," said Larry Jacobs, a politics professor at the University of Minnesota. "The DFL is not going to be able to move big budgets and big programmatic ideas as they did in 2023. The Republicans are either going to have a tie in the House, in which case they can stymie things, or they'll have the majority in which they'll vote down whatever the DFL sends them that involves more taxes, more spending, more regulation. So this is a big, big win for the Republicans."
The Minnesota House has been tied only once before: in 1979. That year, the then-Independent Republicans held on to the speakership in return for the DFL party chairing the three most powerful House committees. The DFL broke the tie the following year after an Independent Republican from St. Paul was accused of unfair campaign practices, triggering a special election.
The Minnesota Senate is up for reelection in 2026, and Gov. Tim Walz will return to serve out the rest of his term after his vice presidential bid ended in defeat.
For more results from the 2024 election in Minnesota, click here.