Despite years of intra-party turmoil and a crushing electoral defeat in 2022, Minnesota Republicans think this year might be one for the history books.
As delegates gathered Friday in St. Paul for their state party convention, Chairman David Hann was feeling optimistic about an election he considers winnable.
Minnesota Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie (Minnesota Senate)
“We want to make people aware to every extent we can that we offer a different vision for governance and a different message on some of these concerning issues — education, public safety and the economy,” Hann said. “We think that message is gaining traction and we’re going to keep pushing it up until November.”
Minnesota has favored just three Republicans for president since 1928, and the party hasn’t held a statewide office since 2011, when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s second term expired. The party also lost control of the House of Representatives two years ago, giving the DFL a rare government trifecta that has enabled them to pass progressive legislation along party lines.
But with the cost of living rising and home ownership for young people increasingly out of reach, Republicans hope independent voters will swing to their side this year. All 134 seats in the House are up for re-election; senators will not be up for re-election until 2026.
Republicans in 2022 focused on crime, spending, government overreach and culture war issues, including abortion and transgender rights. That strategy is unlikely to change this election season, though the party may try to make inroads with DFL-leaning groups of voters, such as Somali-Americans.
Hann said voters have lost confidence in the DFL, especially on fiscal issues, K-12 academic performance and support for law enforcement.
“What is the cost of groceries? What’s the cost to pay for fuel? How’s the school system doing? What is the tax situation? Are businesses thriving?” Hann said. “People look at it and they say there’s something wrong here.”
The DFL expects the GOP’s 2022 playbook will produce the same results this year.
“If Minnesota Republicans really cared about the cost of food, they wouldn’t be trying to get rid of Minnesota’s free school meals program,” DFL spokesman Darwin Forsyth said. “If they cared about children and families, they wouldn’t be trying to repeal Minnesota’s paid family leave law. Minnesota Republicans are trying to distract the public from the fact they have doubled down on MAGA extremism instead of learning the lessons of 2022. Minnesota Republicans’ support for banning abortion, cutting taxes for the rich, and slashing crucial programs like free schools meals will cost them in November.”
Intra-party conflict
Travis Johnson, who was a Republican candidate for state office before running for Congress under the Legal Marijuana Now Party banner in 2022, says the GOP has not been working in Minnesota.
“The last governor’s race is a prime example,” Johnson said. “You had a Democratic governor who a lot of Democrats don’t even like, yet we still couldn’t make a dent in replacing him.”
Johnson said the chaos surrounding Jennifer Carnahan’s role as Republican party leader during that time likely played a role in the party’s failure in 2022. She resigned from her position as party chair after a federal jury indicted political operative Anton Lazzaro, a close associate, on child sex trafficking charges in August 2021. Carnahan also unsuccessfully ran in 2022 to fill a seat in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District left vacant by her late husband, Jim Hagedorn.
“Hann has not done anything to unify the party since he’s been in there,” Johnson said. “He’s done pretty much the opposite.”
Notably, local party delegates failed to make an endorsement for Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District, leaving Rep. Michelle Fischbach to fend for herself against challenger Steve Boyd in the August primary.
In Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, party primary voters must pick between Joe Teirab and Tayler Rahm after Teirab refused to concede when district delegates endorsed Rahm as their preferred candidate to unseat Rep. Angie Craig.
Johnson also points to delegate elections in Otter Tail County this year, where Hann invalidated delegates elected in 2024, stating that those elected in 2022 would stay in place.
Hann downplayed the ruckus in Otter Tail County, saying the intra-party conflict has been going on for the last five or six years and is unique to the party’s structure statewide.
“It’s been a couple of groups up there that have not been on the same page, let’s say,” Hann said. “It’s a very small percentage of people in the Republican universe.”
The Otter Tail dispute dominated the first day of the state party convention on Friday, postponing until Saturday the endorsement of a Senate candidate, the selection of presidential electors and national convention delegates and discussion of the party platform.
It took four hours Saturday for Republicans to approve a convention agenda, which now includes consideration of a letter of support for people prosecuted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Johnson thinks Republicans need activists like those in Otter Tail County to help capture more votes.
“I think the bigger issue is we need to campaign in the cities,” Johnson said, saying that was one of his biggest complaints with Scott Jensen’s losing 2022 campaign for governor.
“Any time I saw any type of campaign event, it was in Greater Minnesota, and it’s like dude, you already have our votes,” he said. “You don’t need to be spending your time out here. You need to be taking votes away from Democrats.”
Hann said the party has been spending more time in DFL-dominated metropolitan areas and has connected with the state’s Somali-American and Hispanic communities.
Johnson said efforts to win over East African emigrants are overdue.
“They trust government less than we do because they’ve seen what happens to a tyrannical government. That’s why they’re here instead of back in Somalia. They are, to me, naturally allies to the GOP over the Democrats,” he said.
Culture wars, lack of vision
While party leader Hann said Republicans are mostly waiting on the current legislative session to end and for the conclusion of their state convention to fully flesh out party strategy, Republicans have focused on perceived slights against various groups, like law enforcement and the religious. They have come out strongly against policies that polls suggest most Minnesota voters support, including abortion rights, gun control and protections for the LGBTQ+ community.
The party also has spent time on marginal topics, such as changing the state flag, even selling clothing on its website to show support for the old flag.
“I think the lesson of how Jensen got beat so badly two years ago is that the culture wars may appeal to your hardcore base, but the culture wars (are) not going to win you over those independents,” Hann said.
Republicans have an opportunity to win over voters on pocketbook issues, according to Hamline University political science and law professor David Schultz, but their main tactic has been to simply stand in opposition to whatever the DFL is doing.
“I don’t see them saying that if elected, we’re going to do ‘X’ to improve the performance of schools or we’re going to do ‘X’ to stimulate job growth in the state of Minnesota,” Schultz said. “It’s more, ‘Democrats are doing a bad job. We can’t trust them. We just can’t trust them with your tax dollars anymore.’”
If Republicans can stick to issues that speak to voters outside of their base, Schultz said, there’s a chance they can take back the House in November.
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