For now, it appears the pending 67-67 tie between the Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican parties in the Minnesota House of Representatives will remain intact after an incumbent representative grew his lead by one vote in a Thursday election recount.
A recount for House District 54A in Scott County found Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, had 15 more votes than Republican challenger Aaron Paul.
The candidates were separated by only 14 votes in the Nov. 5 election, and the close results qualified the race for a publicly-funded hand recount. The next step will be for the county to certify the new results, and Paul could still challenge the results in court up to a week after that happens.
The Minnesota House will be in a partisan tie in January if this year’s election results hold, and leaders of both parties continue to negotiate power sharing. But with a pending lawsuit in one race and another recount scheduled next week, it’s still not certain a 67-67 split will hold.
A recount is also scheduled Monday for House District 14B, where Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, defeated Republican challenger Sue Ek by 191 votes earlier this month. And this Wednesday, a Republican candidate in a Roseville-Shoreview House race filed a lawsuit challenging the residency of his DFL opponent which seeks to overturn the election.
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