Who will win the majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives?
For the last two years, the House has been evenly divided with 67 Republicans and 67 DFLers. During that time, both parties have had to share power, and every piece of legislation passed through the House has needed bipartisan support.
Now, Republicans and DFLers are eager to move on from sharing power and take complete control of the House themselves. A net change of just one seat would yield either party the majority, and that majority runs through just a handful of House districts.
One of those seats is in the southwest metro and is occupied by a far-left Democrat.
House District 48B: Chanhassen, Chaska
In 2024, DFL State Rep. Lucy Rehm won a second term in House District 48B. That district includes nearly all of Chanhassen and much of Chaska.
During the last two elections, the contest for District 48B was incredibly close. In 2022, Rehm won her first term in the House by beating Republican incumbent state Rep. Greg Boe by two points. Two years later, Rehm beat Republican Caleb Steffenhagen by less than one point.
This year, Steffenhagen is running again and the race between him and Rehm could be just as close as last year.
DFL State Rep. Lucy Rehm
A self-described “lifelong feminist,” Rehm previously served on the Chanhassen City Council before being elected to the House in 2022. According to her campaign website, she has lived in Chanhassen for nearly three decades.
Back in 2024, Alpha News reported on Rehm’s first House term which lasted from 2023-24.
That story noted Rehm’s support for two bills, one of which resulted in all state-level abortion restrictions being eliminated while the other would have effectively made Minnesota a sanctuary state for illegal aliens. The sanctuary bill did not end up becoming law.
After narrowly winning reelection in 2024, Rehm returned to the House and continued her advocacy for illegal aliens and the abortion industry during her second term.
In June of 2025, Rehm voted against legislation which banned illegal alien adults from using MinnesotaCare, a state-run healthcare program for low-income individuals.
Passage of that bill was negotiated by House Republicans as a part of an end-of-session deal to enact the state’s two-year budget. Nearly every DFLer in the House also voted against that bill, but it was eventually signed into law as part of that year’s budget agreement.
Additionally, Rehm was a co-author of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during the 2025 legislative session. That proposed constitutional amendment attempted to enshrine protections for abortion and gender identity into the Minnesota Constitution.
During her second term, Rehm also voted against the “Preserving Girls’ Sports Act” along with every DFL member of the House. That proposed law would have kept males from playing in female sporting events in elementary and secondary schools.
Alpha News contacted Rehm for this story. She was asked about her voting record, the campaign, her priorities for another term, and other questions. However, she did not provide any comments for this story.
On her campaign website, Rehm says she wants to protect the environment and ensure education funding keeps up with inflation. Additionally, she believes “healthcare is a human right” and is “100% pro-choice.”
Despite her left-wing politics, Rehm also makes overtures to bipartisanship on her website, saying, “divisive politics prevent us from solving real problems” and “this district deserves a representative who understands that the job is about serving you, not a political party.”
Whether the voters of such a closely-divided district will reward Rehm with another term will be decided on election day, Nov. 3.
Republican Caleb Steffenhagen
A middle school teacher and intelligence officer in the Army National Guard, Steffenhagen is attempting to unseat Rehm for a second time. Steffenhagen answered a series of questions for this story, one of which was about what he will do differently in this year’s rematch.
“This election cycle we are more strategic in our door-knocking and our ads, and are working with increased name recognition,” Steffenhagen said.
Additionally, the Republican lawmaker took a swipe at Rehm, saying she is “increasingly out of touch with the district.” Elaborating, Steffenhagen said Rehm recently claimed that there were no unfunded mandates on Minnesota schools.
In recent years, Republicans have routinely attacked Democrats, saying they placed many unfunded mandates on schools a few years ago. A teacher himself, Steffenhagen told Alpha News, “I understand the damage that unfunded mandates do on schools and their students.”
Alpha News also asked Steffenhagen what three bills he believes a Republican House majority should pass first if they win a majority. First, Steffenhagen wants to see tax cuts for the middle class and businesses “so that we stop bleeding jobs and employers out of our state.”
Steffenhagen said the next bill passed by a Republican House majority should be a ban on cellphones in schools. Interestingly, that position is one of DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s key positions in her run for Minnesota governor.
Finally, Steffenhagen said he wants to end Minnesota’s moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants.
“We are going to need a expanded power increase [sic] in our state, especially with data centers coming online,” he said. “Small modular reactors are the future that are cost-effective, clean and provide the base load power we need.”
In addition to those priorities, Steffenhagen told Alpha News he wants to “end the fraud with new guardrails and audits” and set car tab fees at $99 or less. The limits on tab fees is one of Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth’s key proposals in her campaign for governor.
“I am running because the families of Chaska and Chanhassen are looking for someone willing to find common ground, create reasonable solutions to their priorities, and focus on bringing people together through public service,” he notes on his website.
This article is part of a series called “Swing-District Spotlight” in which Alpha News examines competitive state legislative seats across Minnesota in the 2026 elections.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
