
State DFL Representatives-Elect Sworn in to Minnesota House Early
ST. PAUL (WJON News) -- Minnesota House Democrats say all state representatives-elect were sworn into office this weekend by a district court judge.
The D-F-L is prepared to deny the 68-member quorum to conduct business until Republicans accept a power-sharing agreement.
House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman said in a statement, "We have no interest in spending January locked in partisan warfare with House Republicans, but we do not intend to allow them to pretend that 67 votes is a majority and engage in an illegitimate power grab."
G-O-P House Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth argues, "State law is clear: swearing in happens at noon on the day the legislature convenes; any attempt to subvert that is illegitimate."
She called the move an "unprecedented covert" swearing-in ceremony.
Democrats and Republicans in the Minnesota Senate have an agreement in place to govern the work of the chamber while it is temporarily tied. Each party will have 33 members until a January 28th special election to fill the seat of the late D-F-L Senator Kari Dziedzic of Minneapolis.
Under the agreement, each caucus leader will appoint a co-presiding officer, and Senate committees will have equal representation and joint chairs.
The agreement will remain in place until one party gains a 34th member.
Senators plan to pass a resolution Tuesday when the session opens.

Political analysts are expecting heated partisan battles at the Capitol this session, especially in the Minnesota House.
Carleton College Professor Emeritus Steven Schier says we are not one Minnesota as Governor Walz suggests, we are two. He says, "one is conservative and one is progressive. They are bitterly divided on policy and there is mistrust between the two Minnesota’s and that is all coming home to roost in the House of Representatives."
The G-O-P will have a one-vote majority in the House at least until a January 28th special election.
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