The Minnesota GOP Coup Attempt
Our DFLers in the legislature need your help now!
Thanks to Indivisible West Metro for putting together this important ask.
(Note that DFLEC will have a newsletter related to legislative priorities and activities out later this evening or tomorrow morning.)
Action Urgently Needed
It is absolutely critical that you identify the email address (here) of your Minnesota House member, and then:
If they are DFL, send them a note supporting the efforts to preserve our democracy against an ongoing coup by the GOP.
If they are GOP, send them a note telling them to stop their efforts to take over a House that is evenly divided.
The relative proportion of yay vs nay responses to legislators, usually by email, is already being reported and discussed openly. The DFL is losing. More people are complaining than being supportive. It is essential that you send in supportive notes to your House Member if they are a DFLer right now.
Action Urgently Needed
Please send a note to the editorial staff at local papers to urge them to put aside the bothsiderism that they are currently exhibiting in their reporting of the situation in the Minnesota House. Feel free to include the links provided below that give background (yes, even one from FOX).
The Minnesota House GOP is planning to not seat one member of the house that was duly elected, in order to gain a fake majority and elect a speaker who will then run the house for two years. Yes, that is how the rules work.
The Minnesota House republicans have also threatened to initiate recall petitions to have new elections in districts where they already lost. It is possible that they have already started this process by now.
MinnPost:
Managing Editor Gregg Agmot: gaamot@minnpost.com
Hot Dish reporter: Janet Moore: janet.moore@startribune.com
State Government Reporter Peter Callaghan: pcallaghan@minnpost.com
Editor Elizabeth Dunbar: edunbar@minnpost.com
Star Tribune:
Publisher: steveg@startribune.com
Editor and senior VP Suki Dardarian: editor@startribune.com
News and Politics Editor Erin Golden: erin.golden@startribune.com
Background and further information
Example of bothsiderism reporting, showing both the parties as similarly disruptive and ignoring the reported attempts by the GOP to take over the house: https://t.e2ma.net/message/npgzn7c/r0zsd8
More bothsiderism from Strib: https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-legislature-convenes-at-noon-tuesday-will-house-democrats-show-up/601205385
Much better reporting: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/republican-minnesota-state-house-power-dfl/
Recall info from House Research: https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/pubs/ss/ssrecall.pdf
Source on the threat to recall: https://www.fox9.com/news/gop-plans-recall-dfl-members-no-show-session-start
As a registered DFL voter in Minnesota, I'd be interested in hearing why the DFL leadership thinks this is appropriate action. I've seen no substantive explanation for the residency issue that caused the initial election problem, nor have I seen any coherent reasoning for what is currently happening. I'll be honest, the MPR interview between the two House leaders left me very disillusioned with both groups. If this is the type of "bipartisanship" we can expect, I shudder to think what will happen once budget negotiations start. Very disappointed.