Minnesota state Democrats hold boycott to stop Republicans from gaining control of lower chamber

A group of Minnesota state House Democrats on Tuesday staged a boycott of the chamber on the first day of the legislative session by refusing to show up at the Capitol, in a bid to keep Republicans from taking power. 

The state's lower chamber was expected to be tied for the next legislative year after voters elected 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans to represent them in November. But one state Democrat was removed from office over a residency challenge, prompting Republicans to try and take control, according to NBC News. 

There will be a special election to replace the Democrat on Jan. 28, and state House Democrats have sworn to stay out of the Capitol until after the election, which the party is expected to win.

Minnesota Republicans attempted to move ahead with the first session and elected state GOP Rep. Lisa Demuth as speaker, a move which is expected to be challenged in court.

“At noon, we will have a total body membership of 133 members that are eligible to take the oath of office. 68 is usually a quorum, but under these circumstances, the way that we are looking at it is members that are eligible to take the oath of office is 133 so that would give us a 67-member quorum,” Demuth said.

Democrats have selected State Rep. Melissa Hortman as their speaker-designate, who called Tuesday's proceedings a "sham."

"We have to accept election results even when we don't like them," Hortman said ahead of the session. "And Republicans want to do this kind of crazy revisionist version where they just throw out election results if they don't like them, and we can't let them trample over our democracy in that way." 

Minnesota's Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon sided with his party and proclaimed that there was no quorum in the House because only 67 lawmakers were present. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.