A big pile of money wasn't enough for Democrats to hold the Minnesota House

Yahoo

05-02-2025

The Minnesota State Capitol rotunda chandelier is illuminated for Statehood Day in St. Paul, Minnesota. Photo by Tony Webster.
Minnesota House Democrats raised three times as much money as House Republicans in 2024, according to the latest batch of data from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board. And it still wasn't enough to keep their trifecta this past November.
Aside from a single state Senate special election in the west metro, just the 134 House districts were on the ballot. Voters were given the opportunity to vote up or down on the Democrats' House control, including the passage of universal school meals, paid family leave and free college for middle and low-income families. House Democrats last year raised $9.8 million in donations and spent over $10 million to defend their majority.
House Democrats lost three key swing districts, ending their majority in the House — bringing the chamber to a 67-67 tie — and eradicating the DFL's trifecta over state government. The Minnesota House is in disarray, as Democrat Curtis Johnson was ruled ineligible to hold office.
House Democrats are currently locked in a struggle for control of the lower chamber that's gone all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The best they can hope for is a favorable outcome in a March special election in the Democratic-leaning district that Johnson vacated, which would lead to 67-67 tie in the House. Until then, all 66 House Democrats are in their third week of boycotting the Capitol in an effort to deny Republicans a quorum and control of the chamber. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that 68 members need to be present in order for the House to conduct business.
House Republicans last year raised $3.2 million and spent nearly $4 million to flip key House swing seats in their favor.
The DFL state party committee raised nearly $11 million in donations last year. The state party ended the year with $2.3 million cash on hand after spending $9 million to defend the DFL trifecta. The party's federal committee received an additional $7.6 million in donations.
In contrast, the Minnesota Republican Party raised just $440,000 for its state-level efforts and entered the new year with about $70,000 in cash on hand. Minnesota Republicans were more successful on the federal side, bringing in more than $4 million in donations, with help from a visit by President Donald Trump.
Despite their lack of money, Republicans achieved what they set out to do.
Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman previously said that 'geographic realignment' was the main reason the DFL lost the majority and three House seats, arguing that rural areas of the state are becoming more red quicker than the suburbs are becoming more blue. She said that trend has always accelerated when Donald Trump has been on the ballot.
The state elections attracted more than $25 million in outside spending from the party committees, non-profits, political action committees and other groups. More than half of this spending went toward contests in just 10 battleground districts, including closely-contested races in the Iron Range and the Twin Cities suburbs.
The biggest individual outside spender by far was the DFL House Caucus, drawing on the strength of its donations to infuse nearly $6 million into battleground races. The House Republican Campaign Committee was the second-biggest outside spender at roughly $2.5 million.
Left- and right-leaning political action committees accounted for most of the remaining top 10 slots.
Gov. Tim Walz entered this year with $1.05 million cash on hand — which may scare off potential top-tier challengers if he decides to run for a third term in 2026. Walz has said he'll decide on a rare third term after the legislative session.