Dem
47
GOP
53
It's a small election result, but one with some pretty significant consequences. Back in November, Republican Paul Wikstrom was handily defeated by Democrat-Farmer-Laborer Curtis Johnson in Minnesota's HD-40B. This hurt Wikstrom's feelings, and so he filed a lawsuit arguing that Johnson does not actually live in HD-40B, and so was not eligible to run. A judge tentatively ruled in Wikstrom's favor, and Johnson decided not to fight the lawsuit.
Yesterday, the special election to fill the seat was held. Wikstrom was back for another bite at the apple, while his opponent this time was David Gottfried, who is definitely a resident of HD-40B. To nobody's surprise, since HD-40B is quite blue, Wikstrom lost again. In fact, Gottfried laid waste to him, 70.2% to 29.8%. Undoubtedly, Wikstrom's feelings are hurt again. Probably other things, too, since he just got his ass thoroughly kicked. But he's got nowhere to go with it this time.
By virtue of Gottfried's victory, the Minnesota state house now has 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats. That means a power-sharing agreement is required. State Rep. Lisa Demuth (R) will continue to serve as speaker, but all of the committees will be evenly divided and will have co-chairs, one from each party. The de facto result of this is that only bills with bipartisan support will be able to move past the committee stage and to the floor of the state House. Any such bills that make it through the lower chamber will then head to the state Senate, where the Democrat-Farmer-Laborers have an oh-so-enormous 1-person majority, 34-33. Thereafter, the signature of moderate DFL governor Tim Walz will be needed. So, Minnesota is about to show the country whether bipartisanship can still work in the Age of Trump. By state law, the legislature will adjourn for the year on May 19, so they've got about 2 months to give it their best shot. (Z)