Voters will decide whether the Minnesota House will return to a 67-67 tie between Democrats and Republicans or remain a Republican majority in a special election on Tuesday.
The northwest metro House District 34B has been vacant since the June assassination of Democratic-Farmer Labor representative and former House Speaker Melissa Hortman.
DFLer Xp Lee won his party’s nomination in the special primary election for the seat on Aug. 12, besting three other candidates. He faces Republican Ruth Bittner in Tuesday’s special election.
Lee is a former member of the Brooklyn Park City Council. Bittner is a real estate agent who has not held office.
Lee received around 59% of the 2,000 votes cast in the Aug. 12 special primary. Bittner did not have any competition and received 200 total votes in the GOP primary.
It’s expected that District 34B will remain in DFL hands and will bring the Minnesota House back to a tie between the parties. The district includes Brooklyn Park as well as parts of Champlin and Coon Rapids.
Hortman was first elected to the House in 2004 and was in her 11th term in the Legislature. She was elected speaker of the House in 2019, when the DFL took a majority in the House and continued to lead her party in the House after they lost the majority in 2025.
Hortman handily won reelection in District 34B and past districts that covered a similar footprint. In 2024, she won reelection with 63% of the vote.
In the early morning hours of June 14, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot at their home by a gunman who was reportedly targeting state lawmakers. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot at their home in Champlin and survived.
That has left the House split 67-66 with the Republicans at a one-seat advantage for three months — though the Legislature has not been in session, and the House can’t pass any bills without DFL support because the threshold to do so is 68 votes.
Minnesota’s Senate is in a similar situation. DFLers have 33 seats to Republicans’ 32 in that chamber, but 34 votes are needed to pass legislation.
Before two vacancies this summer due to the unexpected death of Sen. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo, and the felony conviction of another member, Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, the DFL had a 34-33 advantage.
If the governor makes good on his plan to bring lawmakers back to the Capitol for a potential special session on gun control this fall, any proposals that reach his desk will need bipartisan support.
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