Minnesota Democrats won full control of state government on Tuesday, winning Minnesota’s House, Senate, and governorship for the second time in four years.
Going into Tuesday, Democrats had a 34-33 majority in the Minnesota Senate. According to results from the Minnesota Secretary of State, Democrats have substantially increased their Senate majority by winning 39 seats. Republicans won just 28 seats.
While Republicans were hopeful about flipping multiple DFL Senate seats, including three that were won by President Donald Trump in 2024, the GOP flipped just one seat and lost many others that they were expected to carry.
Republican incumbents who lost include Sens. Jim Abeler, Michael Kreun and Bill Lieske. The GOP also failed to hold three Senate seats in Maple Grove, Shakopee, and the Rochester area that are occupied by retiring Republicans.
In the three DFL-held seats that were won by Trump, Republicans only managed to win one of those seats. However, that race is likely headed to a recount as Republican Austin Peterson’s margin of victory is only four votes.
After Tuesday’s elections, senators will elect new caucus leaders for the coming legislative session. DFL Sen. Erin Murphy is the current Senate majority leader while GOP Sen. Mark Johnson is the Senate minority leader.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota House of Representatives was evenly split with 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats going into the 2026 elections. On Tuesday, Democrats won 77 seats in the state House while Republicans only won 57.
Republican incumbents who lost include GOP state Reps. Natalie Zeleznikar, Jeff Dotseth, Erica Schwartz, Aaron Repinski, Danny Nadeau, Jeff Witte, and Wayne Johnson. In other races, Republicans failed to win seats that they needed to have a chance at a majority.
DFL state Rep. Zack Stephenson is the current leader of the House DFL and is therefore expected to be elected as the new speaker of the House.
The current House speaker, GOP Rep. Lisa Demuth, chose not to run for another term in the House and instead sought the governorship. Rep. Harry Niska, the House GOP’s second in command, is the likely favorite to lead the caucus next year.
With the entire Minnesota Legislature under DFL control, and DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s win in the governor’s race, Democrats will have total control of Minnesota state government for the second time in four years.
Back in 2022, the DFL won a trifecta and increased government spending by 38%, allowed illegal aliens to access government services, removed all restrictions on abortion, created expensive new government programs, and raised taxes.
When the next Minnesota Legislature takes office in January, DFL majorities will be much larger than they were four years ago, and those majorities will likely pursue many far-left policies they were not able to enact before.
In recent legislative sessions, DFLers have pushed, but were unable to pass, legislation to make Minnesota a sanctuary state, require AR-15s be registered with the state government, create a climate “Superfund,” regulate the actions of ICE agents, and enshrine abortion and “gender identity” in the state constitution.
Despite the DFL’s impending dominance in state government, both Niska and Johnson have issued statements saying Republicans will continue to fight for Minnesota in the legislature.
“The question now is whether Governor-elect Klobuchar will stand up to the tax-and-spend wing of her party, or whether she’ll be another rubber stamp for the far-left agenda, like Tim Walz was,” Niska said. “House Republicans will be watching, and we’ll be fighting for Minnesota families who can’t afford more of the same.”
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.
