Minnesota House sits at 67-66 as both parties fight for Capitol control

Control of the Minnesota Legislature could come down to a handful of votes, with every seat in both chambers on the ballot in November, less than four weeks away.

The House was tied until a Republican resigned, leaving it at 67-66. In the Senate, Democrats hold a one-seat majority.

At the end of the last legislative session, protesters demanded a vote on a ban on semi-automatic weapons. "Hold the vote, hold the vote," they chanted. But the proposed ban, which also covered high-capacity magazines, never reached a vote on the House floor.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, a DFLer, said voters can change that. She said the DFL expects record midterm turnout, similar to the August primary.

"1.3 million people voted. We've never had that many people vote in a primary," Murphy said.

She said 62% of those voters were Democrats, but the races were close.

"You can't buy a race. You have to talk to people," she said.

House Republican leader Harry Niska said every vote matters in the legislative races. Niska said electing enough Republicans would bring tax cuts, less fraud and reduced government spending. He said he's optimistic and that the priorities are "fully tackling the fraud problem" and reforming the budgeting process.

One race that could decide control of the Senate is in suburban Duluth, where DFL Sen. Grant Hauschild faces Mayor Andrea Zupancich. The race has drawn $1.3 million, much of it outside money and most of it against Hauschild.

"You will see that there is significant outside money outside of Minnesota coming into independent expenditure groups, so dark money groups," Murphy said.