Democrats end boycott of Minnesota House after agreeing power-sharing deal with GOP

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota House Democrats returned to the state Capitol on Thursday after reaching a power-sharing agreement with Republicans, ending a stalemate that prevented the chamber from conducting official business for more than three weeks.

Under the deal, House Republican leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, will be formally elected as speaker for two years. Demuth, who is Black, will be the chamber's first speaker of color.

All 66 Democrats had boycotted the House since Jan. 14 to prevent a quorum of 68 members needed for the chamber to operate.

After the election, party leaders negotiated a power-sharing deal working on the assumption that the House would be tied 67-67. But in December, a judge ruled that one Democratic candidate didn’t actually live in the district that he won, giving Republicans a temporary one-seat majority. At that point, the agreement fell apart.

A special election to fill the empty seat is scheduled for March 11, and the Democratic candidate is expected to win, restoring the 67-67- tie. Republicans and Democrats will then co-chair most committees, with equal memberships from each party, though the GOP will get to lead and have a majority on a committee dedicated to rooting out fraud in government programs.

As part of the deal, there will be some checks on the speaker's traditionally broad powers. Both parties will have to agree on certain major decisions, such as which bills come to the floor for debate, and Demuth won’t be able to block legislation all by herself.

Demuth said she intends to bring a collaborative leadership style, in contrast to the two previous years when Democrats controlled the state government.

“It really felt like conservative voices were pushed out,” Demuth said at a news conference. “What I would like to do as speaker is recognize how it feels to be in the minority and rule as fairly as possible, recognizing the frustration that can be there, still doing what is needed to be done to uphold the integrity of the institution and not compromise that.”

While Republicans said they won significant concessions in the negotiations, Democrats said the final deal was essentially the same as the one they proposed just before the session.

"That it took nearly four weeks to reach this agreement is regrettable and was unnecessary. ... We could have avoided all of this, honored the will of the voters, and started in a bipartisan fashion from day one," the top House Democrat, former Speaker Melissa Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, told reporters.

The last time the House was tied was in 1979, when party leaders reached a power-sharing agreement after weeks of negotiations. Republicans took the speakership, while Democrats chaired the three most powerful committees. The arrangement worked for most of the session but collapsed in the closing days, and lawmakers needed a one-day special session to finish off the year’s must-pass bills.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, tied chambers aren't that unusual and often work out better than expected.

Under the Minnesota deal, House Democrats received GOP assurances that they will not try to unseat a Democrat who won reelection by only 14 votes in a swing district where 20 ballots went missing. An ethics committee will hold a hearing on that race but won't take further action.

The Republican Party of Minnesota ramped up pressure this week by launching a drive to recall all 66 Democratic representatives. The party’s executive director, Jennifer DeJournett, declined to say Monday whether they would drop the recall campaign if House Democrats returned. The state’s recall process is difficult by design and DeJournett estimated the entire process could take 10 months. House GOP leaders said it would be up to the party organization to decide whether to continue.