LOS ANGELES TIMES
Voters in a Minnesota House district at the center of post-election drama over chamber control decisively chose Democrat David Gottfried on Tuesday, tying the House and ending a short-lived Republican majority. The Democratic victory will force the two parties to work together on a budget for the next two years.
Gottfried got about 70% of the vote to defeat Republican Paul Wikstrom, who also ran for the seat in November.
The special election in the heavily Democratic district in the northern St. Paul suburbs of Roseville and Shoreview was scheduled after a state court ruled that Democratic winner Curtis Johnson failed to meet residency requirements. That disrupted an expected 67-67 tie in the House and led to the collapse of a power-sharing agreement when Republicans tried to capitalize on their unexpected majority, prompting a three-week Democratic boycott of the chamber.
The parties reached a new power-sharing agreement in February that assumed Democrats would win the special election and restore the tie. Under the terms of the deal, Republican Lisa Demuth will remain House speaker for the next two years. Once Gottfried is sworn in, the two parties will have even strength on most committees, with co-chairs who will take turns holding the gavel, except for an oversight committee that Republicans will control to investigate fraud in government programs…
Connect with us on our socials: