Democrats secure Minnesota governing trifecta after flipping state House
Democrats now hold a governing trifecta in Minnesota after flipping the state House on election night.
“Minnesotans put their trust in us to fight for them,” said Senate DFL Campaign Chair Nick Frentz in a statement early Wednesday. “Much of that trust was built because we knocked on their doors, we answered their calls and we stood up for them in the face of harm coming from Washington.”
In the state House, Democrats have won 72 seats, compared with 50 for Republicans, while 12 races remain uncalled. Democrats have already secured a majority in the 134-seat chamber.
In the state Senate, Democrats are leading in 34 of the 58 districts, compared with 24 for Republicans. Several races remain uncalled, but the Democrats already hold the majority.
House Republican Leader Niska, R-Ramsey, won his race. He released a statement Wednesday morning about the Democratic trifecta.
“Minnesotans have given Democrats two more years of full control of state government,” Niska said. “House Democrats campaigned on free healthcare, free childcare, and other costly promises. We already know from the last trifecta that Democrats are willing to raise taxes by billions to pay for their wish list. The question now is whether Governor-elect Klobuchar will stand up to the tax-and-spend wing of her party, or whether she’ll be another rubber stamp for the far-left agenda, like Tim Walz was. House Republicans will be watching, and we’ll be fighting for Minnesota families who can’t afford more of the same.”
Democrats also won the governorship, attorney general, secretary of state, and auditor races. With more than 95% of the vote in:
• Democrat Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican Lisa Demuth in the gubernatorial race, currently holding a lead of nearly 13%.
• Democrat incumbent Keith Ellison defeated Republican Ron Schutz in the attorney general race, currently leading by nearly 9%.
• Democrat incumbent Steve Simon defeated Republican Tad Jude in the secretary of state race, currently leading by nearly 13%.
• Democrat Zack Filipovich defeated Republican Scott Jensen in the auditor race, currently leading by nearly 9%.
There was also a statewide ballot proposal, which passed with 75.63% of the vote.
The legislatively-referred constitutional amendment changed the administrative policies for investing and distributing Minnesota’s constitutionally-established Permanent School Fund, which provides funding for public education.
The Permanent School Fund was established in 1858, meaning it has played a role in Minnesota’s public education funding for nearly 170 years. According to the Minnesota School Boards Association website, the fund “is supported by trust land assets and revenue from land sales, timber, mining, leases and other resources.”
In the last 15 years, the fund has grown from $675 million to $2.3 billion.
The amendment will increase fund distributions from about 2.5% to 4.5%, with districts receiving the funding as an additional per-pupil allocation. The percentage will be calculated as the fund’s average net asset value over the preceding three fiscal years.
Slight Chance Drizzle
