ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/WCCO) – Legislative leaders in St. Paul on Thursday held their first meeting with Gov. Tim Walz since the election.
Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson says they need to do some fence-mending after Democrats had control of the Senate, House, and governor’s office last session, something that will not be the case in 2025 thanks to an even split in the Minnesota House. Democrats still control the Senate and Governor’s Office.
“A lot of trust, a lot of relationships are broken,” says Johnson. “And so we’re trying to figure out how do we move forward after that. We Republicans laid out a plan on how we’d like to see that happen and so it’s really up to Democrats to see how we’re going to work together.”
Right now, the DFL has a one-seat majority in the State Senate but even that is on shaky ground depending on what happens with State Senator Nicole Mitchell who is still dealing with charges of burglary after breaking into her mother-in-laws home. She was arrested in April and has since pleaded not guilty.
Johnson notes that depending on what happens with Sen. Mitchell, there could be a period of time during the next session where there is a temporary tie in that body as well.
The meeting Thursday took place in the governor’s reception room at the State Capitol. Johnson explained what the meeting was like, especially after the whirlwind tour of the country by Walz who was the pick for Vice President by the Democrats under Kamala Harris. Of course they lost the Election to President-elect Donald Trump and Walz now returns to his duties running the State of Minnesota.
“It’s like any other meeting where you go into business or you’re meeting with friends, spend a little time catching up,” Johnsons says. “We really hadn’t seen each other, especially the governor as he’s been around the country for the last few months. Getting to kind of catch up on the summer and what’s going on. And so then we get down to kind of the agenda for the day.”
Johnson does say there were a lot of hard feelings at the end of last year’s session, and that they need to smooth things over to make sure the two sides can work together.
The session begins Tuesday, Jan. 14. This would be the first session in Minnesota since 1979 where the House is split evenly.
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