House Democrats cave under pressure, Demuth becomes permanent speaker

After three and a half weeks of shutting down state government, House Democratic leaders finally buckled under the pressure and announced they would give the speaker’s gavel to Republican Lisa Demuth for the full two-year term. Clearly the 20,000 emails facilitated by Minnesota’s largest and most effective conservative organization (American Experiment) made life too hard for rank-and-file Democrats to continue their boycott.

The cracks in the armor were evident Wednesday as digital advertisements popped up in vulnerable House districts praising DFL legislators for “standing up to the GOP power grab” and “protecting Minnesota voters.”

DFL Leader Melissa Hortman must have been hearing from her members that they were losing the public relations battle in their districts. Not showing up is never a good answer and their long, tortured emails back to constituents were not very convincing.

The deal they struck gives Republican Lisa Demuth the Speaker’s chair for the full two-year term. Depending on the outcome of a March 11 special election, the two parties will either split committees evenly and rotate chairs, or Republicans will take full control of the entire House. Republicans also won on the creation of a permanent Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee with a 5-3 GOP majority.

The only thing Republicans gave was something that was already gone — seating Brad Tabke in the disputed Shakopee seat. House Republicans were split on whether to seat Tabke so it was unlikely it would have happened anyway. GOP leaders skillfully held onto that card and traded it for the Speaker’s chair.

All eyes now turn to the special election in Roseville and Shoreview on March 11. If voter turnout stays relatively low, Republican Paul Wikstrom may be able to win that seat.