Democrats hold on to power in Minnesota House
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Democrats are projected to continue to hold the majority in the Minnesota House following Tuesday's general election.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman says GOP minority leader Kirk Daudt called her early Wednesday morning to confirm the DFL Party will hold control. The final numbers have not yet been set.
GOP Leader Kurt Daudt called House Speaker Melissa Hortman, spox says —DFL holds on to control of #mnleg House
— Caroline Cummings (@CaroRCummings) November 9, 2022
Hortman just addressed DFL HQ: “in an average midterm, the party’s that got a president in the White House loses 17 seats in Minnesota House.. but not this team.”
Hortman said previously that Democrats would keep their majority on the strength of redistricting that put more seats in the party's urban and suburban strongholds. She was also counting on anger over the Supreme Court's abortion decision.
MORE: 2022 Midterm Election Results
The GOP had hopes that they'd win control of both chambers, with voters concerned over inflation and crime. A red wave could have meant rapid change in major policy areas such as abortion, taxes and the environment after years of shared party control.
The Republicans needed to pick up four seats after being shut out of power since 2018.
Minnesota has, for the past four years, had a split legislature, with Republicans controlling the State Senate and Democrats the State House. In the past three decades, there have been only two years where Democrats had the trifecta of the governorship, the Senate and the House. That happened in 2013 and 2014.