ST. PAUL – House Democrats on Thursday ended their weeks-long shutdown of state government and the Minnesota House officially came to order.
House Democrats did not appear at the Capitol for the first day of the 2025 session on Jan. 14 and remained absent in the weeks since. Their arrival Thursday came after Republicans and Democrats announced they reached an organizational agreement Wednesday.
“It’s unfortunate it took so long for Democrats to finally show up for work,” said House Majority Leader Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey. “The agreement we arranged with them allowing the House to officially come to order is not perfect in my mind, but it’s the best result for Minnesotans going forward. It also ensures Republicans have a true seat at the table to protect against Democrat excesses such as what we suffered the last two years under one-party control.”
Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring, will serve as the Speaker of the House for the next two years, elevating her to the second-most powerful elected position in state government. Demuth is the first Republican Speaker of the House in six years.
In addition, Republicans will hold an operating majority in a brand-new Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee they created to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in state government.
“I am pleased with the precedent we set by upholding Rep. Demuth as Speaker because it reflects the will of the body; it’s how the vote would have turned out had House Democrats shown up for work when the session started Jan. 14,” Niska said. “It is good the House is in order, and we finally can make official progress on priority issues House Republicans share with Minnesotans.”
Republicans will have full control of committee hearings and committee chairs for the next five weeks, until a March 11 special election takes place to resolve a vacancy in House District 40B.
If the special election in 40B returns the House to a 67-67 tie, committee structures will revert to the co-chair model that had been tentatively agreed upon in the weeks following the November election. That includes equal Democrat and Republican members on all committees, except for the committee on fraud remaining in Republican control, per the organizational agreement.
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