With House split evenly, Republicans should learn from past weakness

Steve Sviggum was first elected to the Minnesota House in 1978, arriving in St. Paul as a wide-eyed farmer and teacher from Kenyon, Minnesota. The blatant abuse of power he witnessed in that 1979 session permanently impacted the rest of his career, motivating him to win the House majority for Republicans in 1998 and serve as Speaker of the House for eight years.

The 1978 election produced a 67-67 tie in the Minnesota House, that same tie we’re waking up to after the 2024 election. Republicans in 1979 attempted to work with the DFL and cut several power-sharing deals, only to be out muscled both on the floor of the House and in Minnesota courtrooms.

First, Democrats took the offensive and filed a lawsuit in Ramsey County alleging unfair campaign practices against Republican Robert Pavlak. The suit was dismissed the day before the session began on January 2, 1979 by a Ramsey County judge.

Meanwhile, Republican Leader Rod Searle refused to take advantage of a DFL lawmaker’s heart attack, making him unavailable to vote for the first few weeks of the session. Of course, this was back in the old times when you had to actually show up to vote in the legislature.

Searle agreed to a power-sharing arrangement with DFLers allowing the legislative process to work for most of the session. But then Senate Democrats decided to appeal the Pavlak case to the Supreme Court and won a 7-2 decision, throwing the matter back to the House. Pavlak collapsed on the floor during the debate and Democrats took advantage of his absence to power through the end of the session, vacating his seat and setting up a special election, which they won in June 1979.

Several times in this saga, Republicans acted weak while Democrats acted strong. The nice guys finished last and outside of a brief two-year stint in 1985-86, Democrats ruled the House until Sviggum won the 1998 election for Republicans.

Coleman v Franken

The Minnesota Senate recount between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken is another example of Democrats forcefully using the courts in winner-take-all fashion to achieve victory. Remember, Coleman was ahead on election night by 215 votes. But after a long recount process, Franken’s lawyers were able to manipulate the courts into counting ballots that were never counted before (rejected absentees), allowing Franken to flip the vote to a 255-vote victory.

Republicans got outmuscled in court by national Democratic lawyers brought in to steal the election. Two lessons from the Franken race are relevant for State House Republicans today. First, lawyer up quickly and deploy resources to the two House recounts occurring in the next few weeks. District 14B has the DFLer ahead by 28 votes. District 54A has the DFLer ahead by just 13 votes. Republicans should get on the offensive immediately in these districts to see if there are any grounds for an election contest.

Second, consider hiring lawyers with no interests in St. Paul. Too frequently, legislative caucuses hire attorneys that work for law firms with lobbying interests at the Capitol. This is a recipe for failure.

A tied election means the fight is not over. Republicans would be wise to learn from past weakness.