Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday called a special election next month for a vacant Roseville-area House seat that helped trigger a power struggle in the Minnesota Legislature.
House District 40B has been empty since the beginning of the year after a judge ruled there was enough evidence to prove the Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidate who won the seat in the November election lived outside the district.
Last year’s election gave Minnesota a House of Representatives tied 67-67 between DFLers and Republicans, but when Rep.-elect Curtis Johnson didn’t take his seat it granted the GOP a one-seat advantage.
Republicans tried to use that advantage to act as a majority and elect a speaker. But House Democrats have not shown up at the Capitol in more than three weeks to stop that from happening by denying the GOP a quorum.
An end of the House impasse might be in sight, though it could still be over a month away.
An election to fill the seat is now scheduled for March 11, the governor’s office announced on Tuesday. If necessary, a primary election will take place on Feb. 25. The window to file for candidacy is Feb. 6 to Feb. 11.
The special election date is significantly later than originally planned.
After Johnson announced on Dec. 27 that he wouldn’t take office, Walz called a special election Jan. 28. The deadline to file for candidacy was 5 p.m. on Dec. 31 — three days after the governor called the election.
Republicans said that was too soon and the state Supreme Court agreed. The court’s decision extended Republicans’ advantage in the House by granting them six more weeks with a one-seat majority.
It’s widely believed the 40B special election will return the House to a 67-67 tie, meaning the DFL and Republicans will have to return to a power-sharing agreement for the session.
District 40B strongly leans toward Democrats. Johnson defeated his GOP challenger Paul Wikstrom by 30 percentage points in the November 2024 election.
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