I’ve had people ask me “what in the flaming hootie-hoo is going on with the Minnesota Legislature (mostly the House today, but the Senate is also happening)”? There are plenty of actual House members with great explanations. Some (@WalterHudson,  @HarryNiska,  @PamAltendorf) are dead on. Others (any DFLer) are…not. But here’s my attempt to explain it in laypersons terms.

1. On election night, the MN House was tied, 67-67.

2. Two of the races, 14B in Saint Cloud and 54A in Shakopee, were close enough to qualify for a statutory recount. The DFLer won in 14B – being caught on video guzzling vodka and getting in your car is practically a rite of passage in Saint Cloud. But the one in 54A, held by incumbent DFLer Brad Tabke – well, we’ll come back to that. Either way – the House was tied.

3. The procedure for a tied chamber (it’s happened) is the two parties come up with a “power sharing agreement” – splitting committee assignments, alternating Speakers of the House, etc. Discussions on this “agreement” started.

4. Before anything was formalized, the election of Curtis Johnson in House District 40B – north Roseville, south Shoreview – was nullified in district court when his GOP opponent, Paul Wikstrom [1], found enough evidence that Johnson didn’t live in the district. At all. The election was nullified, and Governor Walz called a special election for 1/28 [2]. That left the house 67 GOP/66 DFL.

5. Notwithstanding the fact that the conditions have changed, the DFL spent about a week claiming the GOP had “reneged on a powersharing agreement”. That’s an absurd claim – tantamount to saying the DFL needed a mulligan for its incompetence in the Johnson election.

6. For the past week, the two sides have been arguing about what the quorum is to allow the house to meet. The DFL says it’s a majority of the full chamber – 68 out of 134 seats. The GOP – citing the MN Constitution, and the very text of the debate that led to the original quorum provision in 1858, said it was a majority of the seats actually filled – specifically because the framers of the MN Constitution foresaw a situation like this, with a party boycotting the Legislature to prevent any business.

7. The DFL has spent the past week or two saying the GOP is “grabbing power” because they (correctly) say they have enough votes to create a quorum right now.

8. Sunday, the DFL caucus snuck into the History Center, after hours, and got “sworn in” by a retired MN Supreme Court judge, even though the Constitution says that the swearing in is done after a roll call in the House itself on the day of convening (today at noon). This was presumably so they can claim they should be paid.

9. This morning, hours before the House convened, the court rendered an opinion on the 54A race, saying it was not an invalid result.

10. The GOP countered that the MN Constitution, not a district court judge, determines whose elections are valid, not the courts. The house’s ability to determine what elections are valid is not an arbitrary thing – there are rules, and a process. The DFL is trying to deflect away form that, too, since the actual rules don’t favor their interpretation.

That brings us to yesterday noon.

11. The House is newly sworn in every two years. None of the officer elections, like Speaker, apply until they convene and vote. The Secretary of State convenes the House to, as the Constitution says, gavel them into session, call the role, swear them in, and recognize the clerk.

12. Simon tried to adjourn the House saying there was no quorum – basically, he tried to gavel-and-run, as if he were a teenager leaving a bag of burning poop on a doorstep. Republican Majority Leader Harry Niska pointed out that this was a violation of the separation of powers, and the House re-took control of the proceedings. Also – “adjournment” requires a motion, discussion, and a vote.  Even if hs role weren’t purely ceremonial, he did it wrong. 

13. They proceeded to vote to accept that they’d met the quorum specified in the Constiution (a majority of the certified legislators – 67 of 133), and then elect Rep. Demuth as Speaker of the House.

14 – So why does it matter? Today’s results mean that Speaker Demuth will control who heads committees. That is vital – since committee chairs have a lot of power, especially in re scheduling public hearings. Say, over MASSIVE FLAGRANT SYSTEMATIC DFL FRAUD.

15. Also – while the special election will likely bring the legislature back to a tie, the Speaker and Committee chairs will have been chosen – and any legislative attempt to change that will fail; “tie” votes automatically lose.

16. With those facts in place: if the DFL comes back, they won’t be able to pass any legislation, even though they control the Governor and Senate (remember – tie votes all lose). And the committees will become a vehicle for exposing the DFL’s misdeeds.

17. The DFL’s strategy atm is to try to delegitimize the House.

18. IN THE MEANTIME, the Senate is also tied, after the death of former Majority Leader Keri Dziedzic. Since it’s a tie, the Senate entered into power sharing agreement yesterday, and we’ll see what happens after the special election, which is on January 28.

19. Now, conventional wisdom is the DFL should win easily – it’s the U of M and Marcy-Holmes. But there’ve been some interesting dynamics. The GOP’s candidate, Abby Wolters, got 30% of the vote at the U of M, outperforming Trump last November. If the unthinkable happens, the GOP will control the whole legislature. It’s unlikely, of course.

20. BUT!!! Senator Nicole “The Ninja” Mitchell is going to be going on trial on her burglary charges. If convicted (and she said some things in her statement to cops that make me wonder if she got her law degree from the Croatian Internet School Of Law), I’m not sure how she isn’t forced to resign. The district is pretty blue, but one can hope people are getting fed up with all the DFL’s BS.

21. Speaking of being fed up with BS – recall petitions are being collected against the “striking” DFL House members all over the state. Recalls are not easy – nor should they be – and they are called by the governor, and our governor’s respect for the law makes Huey Long look like Rand Paul; you can expect him to interfere with that process, just as he tried to jink the processes in the special elections, and he’s trying to use his bully pulpit on the House.

What it all means: So for the next two weeks, Governor Walz has no power, and after the Special Elections he’ll have…

…still no power, and a House full of pissed off Republicans, with subpoena power, representing people who are pissed off about squandered surpluses, gathering catastropic deficits, decaying schools, rampant fraud, Covid destitution, snitch lines, badthink databases, a DFL that governed like an episode of Sweet Sixteen or Bridezilla, and a Federal government controlled by a Republican if (and, let’s be honest, when) systematic irregularities get discovered. Hope that helps.

If I got something wrong – meaning “factually in error”, not “not the way I want it” – leave a comment.

[1] Not the media. Good lord, no. Side note: you don’t hate the media enough.

[2] Also illegal – the seat wasn’t vacant until, legally, today. That’s when the clock is supposed to start. But to the DFL, laws are for peasants.