2025 legislative session nearly a ‘tie-fecta’
When the 2025 Minnesota Legislature convenes in January, the last two years of the DFL “trifecta” will be a not-so-distant memory. With the Minnesota House now tied 67-67 (pending the outcome of two election court cases), voters have now created a sort of “tie-fecta.”
“Senate Republicans, we’re very thankful that single party control in St. Paul is done and that Minnesota voters have restored some balance back to the Capitol,” Sen. Jordan Rasmusson (R-Fergus Falls) said in an online election preview organized by the Fredrikson law firm.
However, DFL Sen. Majority Leader Erin Murphy was quick to point out that the DFL still has a majority in the Senate, and there is still a DFL governor. “It is false to assume that what the House passes is what is going to become law because the Senate has a perspective, and so does the governor, and those things have not been nullified by the elections in the House,” Murphy said.
Still, when the legislature convenes next month, there will be 101 DFL lawmakers and 100 Republicans.
DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman says all lawmakers will have to work together to get a budget done and pass other legislation and find ways for each side to get a “win” when possible.
“I think every single member of the legislature has a choice,” says Hortman. “Whether they want to be petty and small and personal and partisan or whether they want to focus on the work the people of Minnesota sent us here to do.”
For the next two budget years, 2026 to 2027, the legislature has a modest $616 million budget surplus to work with, but that turns into a projected $5.1 billion deficit from 2028 to 2029.
Republican House Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth says the 67-67 tie in the House will pose a challenge to crafting a budget and agrees both sides will have to adopt a spirit of cooperation.
“Working to find ways that we can get the work done for Minnesotans is what is expected,” Demuth said. “It is historic. We know (a tied House) happened one other time in history and we don’t want to make the same mistakes that maybe took place.”